The Goblin Trap
by Underground Fates
Summary: It is that time of year again... the anniversary of Sarah's run through the Labyrinth draws near. Jareth is in a foul mood. Even uttering her name is an offense that can earn one a dunking in the Bog. Tired of the misery of their King, an intrepid band of goblins set out to bring the King and the Lady together and put an end to the yearly season of distress among the goblin horde.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** \- We do not own any of the original characters from the movie and we do not profit from our storytelling in any way.

The front door to the one bedroom apartment made a soft clicking noise as it was unlocked from the outside, causing the three goblins lounging on the sofa to suddenly freeze, then scramble for cover, dragging the bags of snacks they'd raided from the kitchen under the piece of furniture in the process. Luckily, they hadn't been watching TV and wouldn't have to deal with the female calling her 'Land Lord' and complaining about vandals. After dealing with a strange man searching the mortal's apartment and dodging discovery for a few hours, they'd learned to be rather inconspicuous. Well, more like Scrabble had organized and Slug kept Slink in line - but she didn't mind.

In fact, Slink was peering curiously around the edge of the sofa when the mortal walked in from work, carrying a few sacks of groceries with her. Her nose quivered and her stomach rumbled quietly as she smelled the delicious scent of braised short ribs (her favorite!) and the odd mix of vegetables along with the other bagged items in her human's purchases from the store.

Scooting back before she could be seen, she barely suppressed a yelp as Slug grabbed her wrist and yanked her back beside him. "Ya want Lady ta see us?" he growled. She trembled but frowned, ignoring his rude stare.

"I just wanted to see what she brought's home. Lady looks very pretty today. You think we should tell Sly when he visits tomorrow? He says Kingys been 'specially unhappy this week," she whispered, keeping her voice low, breathing a sigh of relief when the human began to play some music from the entertainment center.

"Well, it's that time of year when...you know," Slug rumbled, letting go of Slink's wrist.

"Yeah," she said sadly, handing him her bag of chips when he noticed she still had them in her hands. Sitting down and watching Slug eat, she wistfully looked back at Sarah. As she watched the human woman, Slink and dreamed of the day when she'd give up this mundane human existence to come live in the Labyrinth with the King and make him happy again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm tellin' you, this year is even worse than usual," grumped Sly, leaning against a pillar in the throne room that was, luckily, very far away from the King's dais. If a goblin or chicken even neared the fae, he would scowl and send it flying across the room with a well-placed boot swing. He sighed, watching the fifth goblin that day go flying.

"You think we should ask him if he wants to see her? I heard Scrabble talkin' the other day that the girl is still..what do they call them up there? Single? What's single even mean?" Chatter whispered, staring at the King as he kicked another chicken across the room with a squawk, making him wince as Tripp tried and failed to catch the creature, stumbling over a mug of ale and angering the King even further when the loud crash echoed in the room.

"SLY!" Jareth roared, gesturing with a grimace. "Get rid of this fool!"

Sly sighed, shaking his head. "No, certainly not. Look at him, he's in too foul a mood to risk it. I'm goin' to visit Slink and her group tomorrow, we'll see about it then. Until then, just keep an eye out and make sure those fools Aboveground are staying out of trouble. This plan will only work if we remain incognito."

Chatter stared, dumbfounded. "What's incognito?"

Sly moved to shake Chatter's teeth loose with his annoyance at the goblin's constant questions but another roar from Jareth had him slinking across the throne room to do his King's bidding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scrabble crawled up next to Slink, who was peering around the corner, watching Sarah put the food away in the kitchen. "What's she doin'?"

"Puttin' the food away," Slink whispered.

The lady looked in their direction and they both ducked back around the doorway. They froze with their backs against the wall, listening intently for any sound of approaching footsteps. After several moments they heard the fridge open. They relaxed, both breathing small sighs of relief.

"Won't Sly be here soon?" Scrabble asked Slink.

The smaller goblin girl shrugged. "He said he'd visit, but its _that_ time of year again, and we both know how Kingy gets at this time of year. Sly might not be able to sneak away for long enough to visit today."

"If he doesn't come today, he might be here tomorrow," Slink offered helpfully.

Scrabble scowled and then sighed. "I thought we'd have some sorta plan by now," she whispered in distress. "We've been up here months and still have no idea how to- to _alienate_ the Kingy's sadness.

Slink looked at Scrabble, her brow furrowed at her use of yet another big word. Slink wasn't always sure that Scrabble knew the meaning of every word she used. "Alienate?"

"Yeah… you know, to make better. Kingy and Lady both sad. We gotta alienate their sadness somehow," Scrabble replied before peeping cautiously around the corner once more.

Slink shook her head and sighed before joining Scrabble in spying on Sarah. After several minutes, Slink forgot about Scrabble's questionable use of vocabulary as she watched Sarah set out a platter of braised ribs and several sides. She blinked in confusion. That was more food than she had ever seen the Lady eat.

She was just wondering if the Lady was expecting someone when Sarah strode toward the kitchen door. She and Scrabble darted for cover as Sarah approached, diving behind the entertainment center just as Sarah entered the living room.

Sarah stood just inside the doorway, blocking their path to the kitchen, and placed her hands on her hips. "All right, I know you're there, you rascals. I'm not moving from this spot until you all come out."

"FRAK! She knows!" Scrabble shrieked softly, backing into the others and sending them crashing together to the floor behind the curve of the couch.

"It's frell, stupid, and with you idiots making all this noise, of course she knows!" Slug whispered deeply, glaring at Scrabble from over his knees. Slink did her best to remain as quiet as possible, risking a peek around the edge of the couch, only to come face to face with Sarah's intense stare, the human having moved across the room and knelt down on her knees, investigating the sound.

"FRAK! FRELL! HELP! SHE SEES ME!" Slink screamed, backing up as Sarah reached over and scooped her up from where she was hiding. Instantly, she broke into tears, clutching at Sarah's shirt lapels. "Please don't be angry, Lady! We only wanted to see you! It's been terribly lonely and the Kingy's never in a good…"

She trailed off when she felt Slug toss something, hitting her in the back of the head with a mushy piece of fruit. Sarah scowled down at the others as they slowly crawled out from their hiding spots.

"Hey! No throwing things at one another," Sarah scolded, holding Slink close as she soothed the little goblin, smiling as Slink dried her tears. "And what's with the words? Where'd you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Slug asked, plopping down on the couch and making himself comfortable.

"Frak, frell…" Sarah responded, watching as Scrabble stood and dusted herself off, holding her nose high as she tried to wander across the living room with dignity, ignoring Slug's glares. Eventually, she settled herself on the loveseat beside Sarah, away from Slug.

"The little people in the glowing box," Slink responded, looking up at Sarah with wide eyes. "You're super pretty, lady." Sarah chuckled, studying the small goblin in her arms.

"Thanks, but that still doesn't explain why you're here, eating my food, invading my home. You've been doing it for weeks, haven't you? Don't you have a King to satisfy or something?"

Slink opened her mouth to respond but Slug's responding growl had her closing her mouth. She glanced fearfully back at the others before shrugging at looking back up at the woman. "Well, my brother's coming t'morrow, so maybe he can s'plain it better. I isn't very good with words, miss."

Sarah stared, her eyes widening. "Wait, there's MORE of you coming?"

Slink smiled and opened her mouth to respond when Slug shot off the couch, glaring at Slink and pointing a finger. "Shut it, Slink! You've already told the Lady too much! We agreed to keep silent!"

Slinks lip started to quiver and she made a small effort of hiding in Sarah's hair as she whimpered. Sarah hugged her tightly and leveled her 'serious business' eyes at Slug, who seemed sufficiently terrified by them.

"Now see here, this is MY home. And I will NOT tolerate bullying. I am not angry with you for coming here but if you are going to continue to stay then you have to follow MY rules. No bullying is #1. #2 is to answer my questions honestly because it is wrong to lie, especially to a host. If you continue this behavior you will have to stand in the corner PERFECTLY STILL for the rest of your stay. Have I made myself clear?"

Slug had removed his helmet and was lowering his eyes in contrition. "Yes, Lady," he murmured.

She nodded in satisfaction. "Good! Now apologize and we can get on with dinner."

The others were huddled together now and watching all this happening with shifting eyes. Slug never apologized. But without even a brief pause he raised sincere eyes to Sarah and Slink and said, "I'm sorry I bullied you, Slink." Slink looked at him with surprised eyes.

"Thank you?" Manners were very unfamiliar territory for Goblins, but it seemed they would have to learn if they didn't want to be banned from Sarah's apartment.

"Excellent," Sarah asserted. "Now all of you go and sit quietly at the table and we can eat while we discuss your presence here."

The Goblins were especially careful to do exactly as she said, she was too much like Kingy when she was angry to take risks.

Sarah gently bounced Slink who giggled at the new sensation. "Now where would you like to sit, Pumpkin?" Slink looked confusedly at her, "What's Punkin?"

Sarah smiled gently at her, "Pumpkin. It's a kind of food but it's also a term of endearment for those who are especially sweet. Since that's what you are, 'Pumpkin' is what I am going to call you!"

Slink blushed a deep green, "Is...it a Name?"

Sarah considered for a moment while she placed Slink in the chair on her own right, "Yes, I suppose it is."

Pumpkin stood on her chair and puffed out her chest at the others. In a sure voice she addressed her comrades.

"The Lady has Named me 'Pumpkin'!"

The other goblins immediately stilled, their eyes going wide as they looked between the newly named Pumpkin and Sarah.

" _Awww, man!_ How we supposed to explain this to Sly?" Slug said solemnly, casting Pumpkin another quick glare. " _See, this is why I said to stay quiet!_ "

Scrabble was the first to notice Sarah's perplexed look as she watched the discussion with amusement, addressing the inquisitive human. "You see, we're... _ah_..sort of _yours_ once you Name us. The King don't know we're here and...well...don't do it again, please. I'm Scrabble, this is Slug." Scrabble pointed to her chest then to her left at the plump goblin who seemed to always be scowling.

Sarah bit back a laugh at Slug's expression but got serious when she listened to Scrabble explain the significance of naming a goblin. Nervously, she shifted in her seat as she passed plates with food around for all of them. "Does the King know when he loses a servant? I mean, from the sounds of it, you've been here for days and yet I haven't seen anything else suspicious…"

Suddenly, all intelligent conversation was lost as the goblins spotted food. Letting out various cries of surprise and joy, they all flung themselves into eating happily, not noticing the horrified look that came over Sarah as she paused in her own eating.

" _Whoa, whoa, whoa!_ What are you doing?" She yelled, tipping her head back to avoid a flying bit of food. She stared, gawking at all the sudden mess over the table.

Slug belched and looked at her like she was dim-witted. "You said we could eat. So we eat!"

"Like that?" Sarah was aghast.

All three simply shrugged and started eating once more. Sarah waved a hand, bringing one up to her face to hide her brief gag.

"Not like that you're not!" She started, only to have Slug groan.

"Lady's got more rules than Kingy…" he grumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pumpkin yawned and sat up on Sarah's bed. She'd slept there the night before, curled up in a little nest of covers that she'd made. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked around. It was still dark but Sarah was no longer in the bed. Instead, light shone out from under the door to Sarah's bathroom, bits of steam escaping through the same crack.

Pumpkin scrambled across the bed and dropped to the floor. She carefully pushed the door of the bathroom open slightly, wincing as it gave a tiny creak in the damp air. Peering through the gap between the door and it's frame, she saw Sarah, a towel wrapped around her body, using some sort of wind thing to blow her hair around.

Puzzled, Pumpkin abandoned stealth and pushed the door open, stepping fully into the bathroom.

"Lady?"

Sarah shrieked and jumped away from her, dropping the noisy wind thing on the ground. A blast of hot air rushed over Pumpkin and she also yelped in surprise. The blast of air burned her slightly and she rushed toward Sarah, frightened and upset, and threw herself against the Lady's bare legs.

Pumpkin watched the Lady scoop up the noisy thing. Suddenly, the noise and air stopped and the little goblin found herself pulled against the Lady's side in a hug.

"Oh! You scared the life out of me Pumpkin!"

"You killed the Lady!" Scrabble screeched from the doorway. Pumpkin looked over and saw both Scrabble and Slug standing there, their jaws agape.

"No, no, I'm fine, everybody," the Lady said hastily, scrambling to her feet again, the towel held firmly around her chest. "Pumpkin just scared me, is all."

Scrabble shot Pumpkin a dirty look. "Not nice to scare the Lady, 'specially now that you're _her_ goblin.

Pumpkin shuffled her feet. "I didn't meant to. She was just using that wind thing and I wanted to know why."

"This?" The Lady held up the noisy thing and Pumpkin nodded.

"It's a hairdryer," she told them. "I use it to make my hair dry after I wash it."

"Why? Kingy just uses magic!" Scrabble said, wandering into the room and boosting herself up to sit on the closed lid of the toilet. The bathroom wasn't very large, and it was getting rather crowded.

Pumpkin happened to be looking at Sarah as Scrabble said this. She noticed that Sarah blushed when the King was mentioned. She would need to remember to tell Sly about it.

"Well," the Lady replied at last, her voice sounding rather strangled. "I don't have magic like the King, so I have to do it this way."

She pointed to the door. "Now out! All of you."

Scrabble and Pumpkin shuffled toward the door. Slug was already gone. Pumpkin could hear his feet slapping against the kitchen floor.

"And stay out of the kitchen!" Sarah called as she shut the door. "I'll make breakfast after I'm dressed!"

The second attempt at the dining table went much better than the first. The threat of having their pancakes taken away meant that the stakes were super high. Scrabble even tried her hand at what she called 'Miniscule talk'.

"That's where you talk about only very tiny things," she said sagely. So the conversation flowed from ducklings, to pebbles, to things that look like pebbles but are not pebbles. And towards the end found Slug and Scrabble in a very heated debate about the effectiveness of buttons vs buckles. Pumpkin wisely stayed out of it and snuck an extra piece of bacon.

All too soon it was over, and the Lady was putting on her working clothes and gathering her things. Pumpkin faithfully climbing into her large purse. Preening with pride like a prized chihuahua. Scrabble and Slug started to shuffle nervously. Neither liked being left out.

"Lady go to work now?" Slug asked.

"Yea guys, although I feel like I've already been looking after children." She laughed, they laughed too even though they didn't quite get it.

"Can we come?" Scrabble couldn't entirely keep the pleading squeal out of her voice.

Lady didn't seem to like that. Her brow furrowed and she started to shake her head. Scrabble jumped to interrupt her.

"It's just the portal won't open again 'til after sundown for us! We'd be stuck here. Alone. All day long."

Some time later they all arrived at Sunny Skies Daycare Center.

They were to stay out of sight and out of trouble or else they would all certainly be kicked out and reported to the King. Lady even said she would find a bog up here if she had to. And so they all watched quietly as Sarah played with the kids in the age 4 room, occasionally taking toys to play with themselves or silently following along to stories and games. Lady would also drop lovely salty snacks for them to scoop up and share.

To Pumpkin, it was the most beautiful place in the world. She was too afraid to do much other than stare in fascination, enthralled with all the items and things to do. Scrabble and Slug looked less impressed when the Lady came by, but she knew that they also enjoyed the place from the periodic stares they would give the toys that Pumpkin would touch.

As soon as it was time to leave, Sarah commended them on their good behavior and rewarded them all with ice cream cones on the way back to Sarah's apartment. While he'd never admit it, Slug was even beginning to like the Lady since she allowed him to have TWO cones when he asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly was about at his wit's end trying to placate the King. Today was the anniversary of when the Lady beat him and he was horribly cross, no matter what the goblins tried to do. Eventually, most simply avoided him and loitered about the town square, which is where he had ended up when Jareth threw a bowl of porridge at him for accidentally mentioning the Champion's name at breakfast.

Pouting, he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled as he looked over at his friends Chatter and Tripp, watching them make typical fools of themselves in the square with the others of the horde. Grimacing, he trotted forward when Tripp offended one of the females - which in turn led to her slapping him across the face, therefore leading him to trip over a chicken and ruin Chatter's chance at another when said chicken ran up Chatter's tunic. Wrenching them apart and apologizing to the females, he glared at them as they shoved him away and scowled.

"Hey! We were havin' fun!" Tripp shouted, glaring at Sly.

"Yeah, I almost got Greasy to let me sit with her at dinner tomorrow! Thanks for nothin'!" Chatter added, opening his mouth to launch into a tirade that - given his penchant for never shutting up, wouldn't end anytime soon - made Sly jump forward and shove his mouth in front of Chatter's face.

"Will you two SHUT UP!" Sly growled, rolling his eyes. _As if either of you idiots would have stood a chance with those girls anyways_ _,_ he thought with annoyance, staring between the two. "We've got a SERIOUS problem on our hands, gents."

"Huh?" Tripp said, having briefly lost his train of thought as he smiled lazily at the female he'd been trying to woo. Sly didn't miss the look of horror on the girl's face and elbowed Tripp in the gut, bringing his attention back to him.

"Yes, idiots. The KING! Didn't you catch his mood?" Sly hissed, pinching his nose in exasperation.

"Yeah, so?" said Chatter, glancing over Sly with an equally annoyed look. "It's that day - the day the Lady won. He's always like this around this time. Why? You still sour about gettin' porridge dumped on your head this morning? That's what you get for sayin' her name...you know the rules!"

"Whatever! I say let's bugger off a little early this year, go in the morning, see what Slink and those others have been up to. I KNOW he's like that every year and I'm sick of it! Aren't you?" Sly asked them both, which prompted them both to respond with a noncommittal shrug.

"Sure, it's gotta be more fun than standin' out here while Kingy is in a mood," supplied Chatter, looking at Tripp for his opinion. Tripp shrugged and nodded, making Sly grin.

Chatter followed Sly thought the portal and into the Lady's home. Behind him, Tripp caught the edge of the portal with his foot and went sprawling, narrowly missing the floor lamp that stood in the corner. The standing mirror wobbled, bumping against the wall.

"Would ya watch it already!?" Sly hissed, glancing past him to look at Tripp. Tripp shrugged apologetically

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Slink!" Sly called out in an undertone, still trying to stay as quiet as possible. "It's us! You can come out."

They waited, but Sly's little sister didn't appear.

Sly headed toward the bedroom door and Chatter followed. He saw all sorts of neat things that he was simply dying to point out to Tripp, but he decided that maybe now wasn't the best time.

One by one, they slipped through the door and tiptoed into the living room. Once there, they paused and looked around.

"Woah! Look at this Tripp!" Chatter scurried over to the television. "I bet this is the box with the little people in it Slink was talkin' about when she came home last. D'ya think we can get it to turn on? It would be really cool to be able to see the little people run around like they said they did and maybe we can find that G'lactica thing Slug was tellin' us about. He said somthin' 'bout a 'mote. It has buttons on it. The buttons make the people change and-"

The sound of something clicking near the front door made them all freeze where they stood. As the door began to open, they jolted into action, scurrying to find a hiding place.

They might have succeeded, if Tripp hadn't gotten the table runner on the coffee table caught on the chicken feet he'd sewn to the shoulders of his jacket to make him look scarier. As he dove behind the couch, everything on the table slid off with a crash, just as the Lady stepped into the room.

The Lady immediately placed her hands on her hips. "Well? I know you're here, so you might as well come out."

From behind the recliner, Sly scowled and shook his head, so Chatter didn't move.

"I said, come out here! Right. Now."

Chatter stared at the Lady, his eyes bugging out. She was almost, but not quite, as scary as Kingy when she talked like that. Suddenly Slink's face popped up in the Lady's bag. The Lady smiled down at her and nodded so Slink spoke up.

"Come out guys, Lady Sarah had food!"

At the mention of food, Tripp poked his head out from behind the couch. "Food?"

"Food!" Slug cheered.

For the first time, Chatter noticed that Slug and Scrabble had come in behind the Lady and shut the door. Slug looked as big and dumb as ever, but Scrabble! He couldn't take his eyes off of her. There was something about her that just turned his insides to mush.

Without realizing what he was doing, Chatter walked straight out into the room, heading for Scrabble. He didn't see Sly's silent arm waving, and he paid no attention to Tripp's stare of amazement. He only had eyes for the beautiful little goblin standing by the door.

That is, until he was tackled by Sly.

"Idiot!" Sly hissed as he grappled with Chatter. He was about to ream Chatter out when something barreled into him. Sly was usually the fastest, but caught off guard he became pinned to the wall by the helmet horns of Slug.

Scrabble stomped up to the pair and bonked Sly on the nose with the sole of her shoe.

"This is the Lady's house! When we are here we follow her rules! Rule #1 is no bullying! Got that?!" she chastised with a final boop on the nose before putting her shoe back on. "Let him go now, Slug."

Sly couldn't believe what had just happened. As the King's spy he had a certain amount of weight amongst the horde. But without so much as a how de do he had been hit on the nose like a dog. He looked up towards his sister.

"Slink! What's been going on?" But she only shook her head as she climbed down from the purse.

"Is Pumpkin now. Lady Named me. Better do as she says, brother. There's worse than bogs up here. Lady says something called Axe is much smellier. You should apologize."

Sly visibly blanched at the very idea that something could smell worse than the bog. He dazedly turned to Chatter and said, "I'm sorry."

Chatter wasn't paying attention though. He was straightening his clothes as he once again approached Scrabble. The many bottle cap and can tab earrings clinked as she looked at him.

He made a sort of wobbly bow and there was a brief moment of silence before words just started pouring out of him

"Hi there Miss Scrabble, I mean Scrabble Ma'am. You sure do look lovely today. Like freshly baked cakes. Although, I'm not supposed to have cake, Sly says they make me talk to much. But I'd be happy to bring you some if you want. Do you like cakes? What am I saying, who doesn't like cakes? I can't share it with you but I sure would like to sit with you while you eat it. Or stand, whichever you prefer. I know lots of places we could do both…"

Scrabble preened under Chatter's babbling, shyly looking over Chatter as she puffed up her hair and stood straight next to Chatter. However, once she noticed the others - including Sarah - staring, she shoved at Chatter and rolled her eyes, despite a pink tone shifting under her blue tinged cheeks. "Stop it, you dolt! I'll...think about it."

Chatter didn't even seem phased, staring at Scrabble like she walked on water. He grinned at her vague response. Sly simply rolled his eyes and looked back at Sarah with a frown.

"So, Lady, you're prolly wonderin' what all this is about…" He started, but Sarah had already breezed past him, grabbing for a strange object with a cord protruding from the side as she grabbed a pamphlet by the fridge. Making a humphing noise, as he wasn't used to being ignored, he watched as she punched in something on the object and cupped her hand over one end, looking around the room.

"Wait, do you guys eat chicken?"

All the goblins stopped what they were doing and stared, looking horrified.

Sarah seemed to take this in stride. "Thought so. Vegetarian it is." Then she spoke into the object as she looked over the pamphlet in her hand.

"What's vegetarian?" asked Chatter, looking between the others with confusion.

Scrabble beamed, seeing this as her opportunity. "It means no meat!"

The others stared at her and began to laugh. "It does not!" they cried out, guffawing at her expense. Scrabble scowled and rolled her eyes. Little did they know, this was the first time she'd been correct.

Chatter merely stared at her and sighed, "What a beautiful word." Scrabble's blue ears blushed to a deep purple.

"So how in the Bog did she notice you guys? I thought we said this was supposed to be a sneaky mission!" Sly started in, once the others huddled around him. Meanwhile, Sarah was busy talking to the object against her ear - which was really odd, if he did say so himself. _Must be something magical like the King has_ _,_ his mind immediately supplied.

"We ate her food, so…" Slug shrugged and sat down, already overtired with the small amount of physical work he had to do today. Sly blinked, looking outraged, and his sister cut off his rant before it started.

"Don't be mad, Sly. She's been super nice. We got to go to Daycare!" Pumpkin started, launching into what they'd been doing all day. Sly would never admit it, but it did sound kind of fun. It had to beat having a bowl of porridge dumped on your head, at least.

"Ugh, FINE!" Sly grumbled, cutting off Pumpkin's description of toys and children. Personally, he hated kids. All they did was cry, poop their pants, or drool all over things. Shuddering, he looked at Scrabble and Slug. "And you went along with this?"

Slug shrugged. "She gave me ice cream."

Scrabble nodded, looking back at Sarah with a smile. "We even got to eat dinner and breakfast with her! She made pancakes!"

Sly, Tripp and Chatter simply stared, mouths agape.

"Man, we got so screwed!" Chatter started, groaning at the idea of pancakes - he didn't know what they were but they had the word 'cake' involved, so he was already sold on the idea. "Can I trade with Slug? This is SO much better than home lately…"

"Hey! I don't think so!" roared Slug, shoving Chatter with a grunt. "Thems MY pancakes! Back off!"

"Lady said no bullying!" shrieked Scrabble, jumping up to Chatter's defense. He took notice and she flushed, looking around the room and trying not to meet his gaze. "Well, she DID…."

"Are you guys already breaking rule number one?" Sarah called, giving the group a small smile as she wandered into the living room.

"Nooooo…." they all chirped in unison, giving Sarah innocent smiles. She simply grinned.

"Good. Now, what does everyone want to watch during dinner?"

They were well into watching something called "A Nightmare Before Christmas" when the food arrived. Sly had been sure that with a title like that, it would be a gruesome, scary, and completely thrilling movie. He was disappointed.

"What's wrong with the sewed up girl?" he asked, staring at the screen in confusion. "Why's she so… droopy?"

"She's uno!" Scrabble exclaimed, politely accepting a plate of something the Lady had called 'Vegetable Lo-Mein' and sitting in front of it at the coffee table.

"Uno?" He was bewildered at pretty much everything about the Lady and her house. She had way more rules than Kingy, but she also seemed a lot nicer most of the time.

He heard Sarah snicker and he looked at her. "Emo," Sarah said, leaning close to his ear so Scrabble couldn't hear her. "The word is Emo."

Sarah handed him a plate, looking meaningfully at him as she did so. "Mind your manners, please."

"Yas'm," he said.

He put his plate on the table like Scrabble and the others. "Emo…" he muttered.

"That's what I said!" Scrabble chirped brightly before slurping a noodle from her plate. The end of the noodle swung up and left a smear of grease on her nose before she sucked it in with a loud slurp.

"Well, whatever," Sly said in annoyance. He pointed to the screen, where Sally was singing sadly and proclaimed, "But she acts just like Kingy!"

He looked over in shock as the Lady Sarah choked and sprayed her drink over the whole coffee table.

"Eeee!" Pumpkin squealed, standing up and dancing around. She had been sitting closest to the Lady and had been hit with the most liquid. Pumpkin swiped at her wet clothing, trying to dry it off with her hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Pumpkin! Here, let me help you." Five pairs of eyes stared at Sarah as her face flushed crimson and she held her hands out to the littlest goblin in their group. Sly noticed that she carefully avoided looking at any of the others.

"Oh dear, you'd better come with me. Those clothes need to come off." Sarah scooped up Pumpkin and hurried off with her, still not looking at the others.

"What's her package?" Scrabble asked, staring after Lady Sarah.

Sly shared a shocked glance with Tripp. Being as close to Kingy as they were, they knew that "package" wasn't the word Scrabble meant to use.

"Ummmm, I don't think Lady has a package," Tripp said.

"Of course she doesn't! Girls don't got packages!" Sly retorted, tossing a noodle in Tripp's direction.

"They can so!" Scrabble retorted. "Anyone can have package! It means a problem!"

"Does not!" Tripp said, tossing a handful of noodles at her.

"Does so!" She shrieked at them and grabbed up two whole handfuls of noodles.

She was just getting ready to fling them toward the others when Pumpkin came skipping into the room, followed by the Lady.

"Lookit' what Lady gave me!" Pumpkin twirled around in the middle of the room, showing off her new clothes. "Its called a t-shirt dress and it gots punkins on it!"

Sly watched his little sister. The fluffy orange skirt was glittery and the pumpkins on the front of the black shirt also sparkled. He sighed. Slink- er- Pumpkin always was a girly little thing.

Lady Sarah stared hard at the rest of them. "There isn't going to be a problem out here, is there?" Her voice was soft, but her tone was scary and all the goblins shrunk down a bit where they sat.

"No Lady," Sly said.

"Nuh uh!" Tripp looked nervous.

"No problem," Scrabble said meekly.

Slug shook his head, noodles hanging out of his mouth. He was too busy eating to reply. Meanwhile, Chatter was unusually silent. Sly looked over to find him staring at Scrabble in adoration, his head resting on his hand and his food all but untouched.

"Chatter!" Sly rebuked.

"Huh?" Chatter started, knocking his plate and spilling noodles on the table.

The Lady sighed. "I should have known that would happen."

After cleanup and what can only be described as a bedtime assembly line, all the goblins were snoring in a nest of blankets and pillows on the hide-a-bed in the living room. Well, all but two.

Pumpkin and Sly were sitting opposite each other on the windowsill, looking out at the sea of city lights. Sly reached across to hold his sister's hand.

"You really gonna stay?" His voice was tight even as he tried to keep his posture aloof.

Pumpkin nodded slowly. "I havta. Kingy has many Goblins, including you. I can still visit, but Lady has no one. She always alone. Someone has to look out for her. Besides I thought you'd be happy. I'll know everythings she does now. Like earlier, I mentioned Kingy and her cheeks got all pink. I almost forgot to tell you."

Sly's ears pricked up at that. The gears in his goblinoid mind starting to tick with purpose.

"Is that so? Does Lady have a man-friend?"

"No. At least, we haven't seen one. That's why I think she's lonely. Work, home, work, home. That's all Lady does. It's fun being with her now. Like at daycare! She sang songs and told stories. We even got to eat snackies and play with toys! As long as we behave. You'll see tomorrow."

Sly jumped down and helped Pumpkin lower herself safely to the ground. Then hoisted her up onto the sleeping pile with the others. Sly hesitated a bit, looking towards the mirror they had used. He really should be getting back. But if Kingy was as into his bottles as he usually is this time of year, maybe he could be gone an extra day. It always helped to know as much as possible. Mind made up, he jumped up onto the bed and curled up next to Pumpkin. Tomorrow, he would see all things himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly hated daycare. The kids were loud and smelly. And staying hidden was absolutely no fun. After an hour he had gotten so sick of being crammed into tight places with the others that he had made his way up the the tops of the book cases. He had stealthily gotten a few good startles on a particularly nasty boy when Sarah gathered everyone around for storytime.

The kids immediately started arguing about which story they wanted to hear and Sly gritted his teeth. He should have just gone home. He was mulling over the merits of slipping out the window when he heard the first few lines of the story Sarah had chosen.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose parents always made her stay home with the baby... "

Sly froze. Watching with rapt attention as Sarah told _her_ story to the children sitting around her. It was different than the accounts he'd heard of her run, and much simpler, but the details that only she would know couldn't be missed. The dwarf, the rock-caller, the bog and it's yappy little foreman... and of course Kingy. But she didn't talk about him with anger like Kingy had talked about her, rather, she seemed quite sad at the end. When the victorious young woman said her right words and finally made her way home, Sly could even have sworn he saw the slight mistiness of threatening tears in her eyes. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a question.

"Miss Sarah? Did they ever see each other again?"

"Not yet," she replied automatically.

Yet.

Sly rolled on his back and smiled with wickedly sharp teeth at the ceiling.

How _promising._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer** \- We do not own any of the original characters from the movie and we do not profit from our storytelling in any way.

Jareth woke in a foul mood, casting a hand over his face as he closed his eyes, hoping that by his sheer force of will the week would suddenly pass him by and he'd be on his merry way to avoiding any thoughts around _her_ that happened more than usual this time of year. Sadly, despite being the Master of Dreams, he found that his powers failed to work on his own.

"What's the point of all this if I can't change my own dreams?" he grumbled, groping across his bed blindly with his other free hand, trying to find the bottle of liquor that he'd left half-empty by his bedside. At least, he thought he had. His fingers ghosted across the lip of the bottle and he snatched it with glee, letting out a little grunt of achievement and picked it up to bring it to his lips.

Frowning, he pulled his hand from his eyes and squinted at the bottle, realizing it was empty. With a growl of frustration, he dropped it, hearing it briefly clatter on the wooden planks of his bedroom floor and roll underneath the bed.

"Sly!" he bellowed, waiting impatiently for the little goblin to appear. When he didn't, Jareth grit his teeth against a wave of fury that suffused his entire being. "Wretched creatures, the lot of you!" He finally sneered and stood, still dressed in yesterday's clothes. Jerking the wrinkled clothing into place, he looked at the small wet bar by his bed and scowled once more, noticing it was empty of his favourite bourbon.

"Am I supposed to become my own maid, too?" he sniped, looking around the room and starting to roar again, looking for the pesky beasts that were always around him. "SLY! GodsDammit, SLY! I am out of bourbon!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly woke with a start, his eyes wide and his head practically ringing as he heard Jareth's roar in his head. "Oh crap," he whispered, He hadn't expected that Jareth would call on him so soon. Glancing around frantically, he stirred the others awake, staggering under yet another roar from his sovereign.

"Wake up, you morons! The King is demanding us!" He yelled in a whisper, still mindful not to wake the Lady while prodding both Tripp and Chatter into sitting positions. They scowled briefly at him then paled when they also realized the kings voice was reverberating in their heads.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sly spotted Scrabble and Slug slowly coming to. Those two seemed to take a little longer to sense what was going on, only faintly hearing the summons but still hearing them all the same, being so close to Sly. Pumpkin, however, was completely oblivious, still seen sleeping with Sarah in her bed. Sly frowned, finding this troubling. If she couldn't hear Jareth any longer, she'd well and truly become Sarah's, it seemed.

Ignoring that brief discomfort, he beckoned to Tripp and Chatter and marched with them to the mirror portal, tapping on it to bring it to life. Briefly, the mirror sparkled and shimmered and Tripp stumbled through, most likely falling in the process. Chatter briefly looked back at Scrabble, who was doing her best to stare-but-not-stare in return, making Sly roll his eyes and shove his friend through the portal before hurrying through himself.

Upon their arrival in the hall just outside Jareth's chambers, the trio saw that the castle was in an uproar. Gawking, they saw goblins and other beasts running around wildly, carrying bottles of booze, food and other strange objects.

"What in the…" Chatter started, only to be cut of by a bellowing screech by the door to Jareth's chambers.

"Where in the bloody hells have you idiots been?!" Hoggle screamed, staring at them venomously. "His Majesty has been tearin' the damn castle apart lookin' for you three!"

Sly gave his two pals a death glare, mutely ordering them to silence. They caught his look and immediately looked away, stepping back away from Hoggle and leaving Sly to answer the question.

Sly simply gave Hoggle a shrug. "We had too much ale last night, was sleepin'. Where's the King?"

"In the throne room, in a royal mood," Hoggle muttered, rolling his eyes and shoving all three of them towards the double doors that marked the throne room. When they tried to get Hoggle to join them, he shook his head fiercely. "Oh no, this time it's on you three. He's already in a piss-poor mood this time of year then you morons decide to go have a party and avoid his summons. Have fun explainin' that one."

Sly sighed. Closing his eyes, he opened the door, tensing as Tripp and Chatter went ahead of him into the throne room. He could already hear Jareth tearing them new hides. As he put one foot forward and moved to enter, he heard Hoggle call his name.

"Oh, and Sly?"

Sly looked back at him. "Tell Sarah I said hello," he murmured, his eyes gleaming knowingly. Sly blanched, whipping his whole body around and pointing to the throne room, his eyes questioning.

"He don't know...yet. And you better keep it that way, if ya don't wanna smell like bog the rest of your life." Hoggle replied, smirking. Before he could think of a reply, Sly heard his name called. He stiffened for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning to face the music. As he stepped into the throne room, his eyes fell on a seething Jareth lounging on the throne, bottle of bourbon in his hand.

Sly gulped as Jareth speared him with his gaze. "Where were you?"

Sly thought quickly. He didn't think that Jareth would buy the excuse he'd given Hoggle. Even the grumpy old dwarf had been able to see right through it. His mind whirled. What could he say? If he told the King where that had actually been, he and the others would likely end up in the Bog, all their plans ruined.

Before he could come up with a plan, Tripp spoke up. "Was my fault, Kingy!"

Jareth's gaze shifted to the clumsy little goblin and he scowled. "Explain."

Sly stared at Tripp as he started to ramble on about how he accidentally knocked down an entire chicken coop, destroying the fence and letting all the chickens escape in the process. He blinked several times. Not a word of what Tripp was saying was true, but it was so utterly convincing that Sly had to search his memory to make sure that none of it had actually happened.

"... and then I picked up the bag of chicken food, thinkin' we could use it to get the chickens but it broke and got everywhere and the chickens all stampeded."

Tripp was looking down and shuffling his feet in a convincingly apologetic manner. Sly glanced cautiously at the King, only to note that he did not look amused.

Suddenly, Jareth slammed the bottle of bourbon down, shattering it and covering his throne, the floor, and his clothing in the pale brown alcohol. "Enough!"

Tripp was instantly silent. Everyone in the throne room watched the Goblin King with wide eyes, wondering what he would do next. You could never tell at this time of year.

Jareth glared at Tripp. Then at Chatter, and finally, Sly. "I don't care WHAT is going on with your ridiculous chickens. When I want you, you appear. There's no excuse for ignoring me!" Jareth sneered down to the mess he'd made, growling under his breath about the stupidity of his servants and the need for more liquor.

"Clean this up," Jareth barked at Chatter, who jumped and ran off to find a rag.

"Sly, go find me another bottle." Jareth ordered, before pointing at Tripp.

"And you… you go stand over there, and try not to break anything else today." Jareth said sarcastically, rolling his eyes before throwing himself back on his throne. He tossed one leg up over the arm and crossed his arms in irritation, staring moodily at the ceiling.

After several moments, he realized that Tripp and Sly had not moved. "Well? Go!" he thundered.

Sly ran off to the cellars, relieved that Jareth had bought Tripp's nonsense. Their idea was still possible, at least for moment. Now if only they could come up with some sort of plan to make it happen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next several hours were a very vibrant learning experience for Sly and his crew. Jareth challenging them to 'drinking games' where the object, mysteriously, was both to win and to lose. Foot races, guessing games, and a game called 'never have I ever' Jareth swore was from above ground. But it was when Tripp won the dance off that they knew their king was in serious trouble.

"Where'es youd learn that Tripster?" Jareth slurred, "Those are some pretty slick moves! We should dance them all times at the finesht baaaahls. That would show S-SsS-gah, that _girl_ , and those snobby elf pricks. I am the gob- BEEEELCH-Gobwin King! I should be treading on them wiv my boots!"

He tried to do his trademark strut, but seemed only to be able to move in wobbly diagonal lines.

"These boots were made for walkies, and tha's jus wat they'll do. One o' these days dis boots are gonna walkies over you."

The anthem was somewhat thrown off then he fell head first into his throne. His derriere awkwardly up in the air as faint snoring started to echo in the throne room.

All the goblins froze.

"Is he dead?" asked Tripp

"Deceased," corrected Chatter

Sly hoped against hope that Chatter and Scrabble wouldn't trade habits. Cautiously he approached his king with a long stick. A few experimental pokes to the butt wrung snorts out of his sleeping form.

"No, he aint dead. Just passed out from the drink." He sighed in relief, staring at Jareth's comatose form with a frown.

"Something MUST BE DONE!" he suddenly yelled, glancing back at his two friends. Chatter and Tripp briefly paused, eyes widening in confusion.

"You mean like helping him sit up? I'm not that strong…" started Chatter, staring dubiously over Jareth's form with a frown. "He's black out drunk, Sly, that's going to be damn near impossible to move him, maybe if I talk to some guys down in the…"

"No, you idiot!" shouted Sly, watching as Chatter narrowed his eyes at his insult.

"Watch it, Sly, just 'cause he's drunk don't mean he placed you as King in his stead!" Chatter barked back at Sly, finally reaching the limits on his patience, offended at Sly's harsh tone.

Sly rolled his eyes, gesturing at Jareth with an exaggerated patience he didn't feel. "No, I mean _him_ _._ He obviously misses the Lady! And you saw the Lady blush when she mentioned him! Didn't you hear her story to the mortal children?"

Chatter and Tripp stared blankly at him and Sly rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't. What were you doing?"

Chatter turned an odd color of pink under his greenish skin tone, making Sly groan in annoyance. "Nevermind you - I know what you were up to….sheesh, sniveling over a female like that…" He ignored Chatter's death glare and turned to Tripp. "And you?"

Tripp fumbled with his hands, looking around the room. "I found the snack room. Why? What'd we miss?"

Sly ran a hand across his face, forcing his anger down. "She was tripping over her words and actin' all silly when the mortals asked what became of the King and the girl in the story…" He watched the two stare at him blankly, then forced himself to continue as he grit his teeth. "Her, you morons! They LIKE EACH OTHER!" He all but roared the obvious conclusion hanging in the air.

Briefly, a snore from Jareth had all three of them staring fearfully at the King for a moment. When he didn't seem to move and dozed off fully again, Sly forced his voice into a hushed whisper. "I think...he's...you know, whatever those mortals call it…'into her' or whatever. And I think she's 'into him,' too. It makes this whole plan of ours easier, see. They already like each other, now we just gotta get them together so we can convince her to come back and stay!"

Chatter and Tripp slowly seemed to process this, looking back at Jareth. "So what do you propose we do?"

Tripps thought hard for a moment, scratching his head. "I've got it!"

Both Sly and Chatter jumped a bit at the sudden outburst.

"We get a nice big basket of chicken eggs. And THEN we give it to the King and say it's from The Lady! Then we give something back to her, AND we get more chickens!" Tripp puffed up with pride at his genius idea.

Sly smacked him lightly on the head with the stick. "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard! Kingy has always hated the chickens."

Tripp visibly deflated. Chatter snapped his fingers with revelation. "Now this is a good one!"

Sly slowly turned to look at him, doubt written all over his face.

"We hide one of Kingy's shinies at the bottom of an ale cask. Then we give the cask to The Lady and say it's from a sweetheart. When she drinks to the bottom she will find it. And she will think of him fondly because she's drunk out of her mind! Of course, we have to figure out how to get a shiny into a closed cask and then a way to get it above safely and without any of the other goblins noticing and then there's the problem of getting the shiny away from Kingy…"

Sly put a hand over Chatter's mouth to stop the flow of words. But his ears were wiggling, a sure sign of a scheme forming.

"It's...half a good idea," said Sly. "Let's meet up with the others and see what they gots to say."

"What about Kingy?" asked Tripp

Sly looked ruefully over at their sloshed sovereign.

"We'll check on him in a few hours."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly, Tripp and Chatter had just walked through the mirror portal in the living room as Sarah was unlocking the front door, bags and the other goblins in tow.

"Good evening," she called cheerfully to the trio as the last of them stepped through the mirror. Sarah was carrying large paper sacks in her arms. Already, Slug, Scrabble, and Pumpkin scurried ahead and began setting the table, the others holding back to stare in surprise.

"I figured you three would be back, so I bought enough for everyone. Care to join us?" Sarah called, moving into the kitchen with the others while the trio stared, at a loss.

"You want us...to eat dinner with you?" asked Chatter, completely baffled. Tripp simply gawked and Sly sighed in relief, already grateful for the Lady's soothing presence - something he felt a little guilty about at the moment but couldn't help giving in to. The King was constantly in a sour mood as of late, even more than normal.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" she asked, looking back at them. "But only if you observe proper table manners. Go wash your hands, all of you. I'll get the food ready."

"Wait, who said anything about washing hands?" started Tripp, only to be tugged by Slug down the hall. Chatter and Scrabble rushed up to smile at each other. They grinned foolishly for several moments, causing Scrabble to blush and then roll her eyes comically before shoving Chatter down the hall. He obediently went, grinning back at Scrabble as he did so. Sly simply stared at Sarah as she moved to set the table, crossing his arms over his chest while he thought.

"What's on your mind?" Sarah suddenly asked, surprising him.

"You're a lot nicer than Kingy right now," he replied, watching her reaction. He smirked to himself when he saw her arm jerk at the mention of Jareth while she put serving spoons in the cartons of roasted vegetables.

"Oh? What's got him upset?" she asked, glancing back at him as she smiled, the action perhaps a little too strained, before she turned back and began to pull wrapped tomato and mozzarella sandwich presses out of the paper bags.

Sly was momentarily distracted by the amazing scents coming from the wrapped sandwiches but pulled his gaze back as he saw her watching him.

"He's always like that around this time, you know," he replied, turning as the others joined. "Right, guys? I mean, normally Kingy is pretty generous, for the most part…"

When the others gawked at his words, he nudged them as they passed by and moved to the kitchen sink to wash his hands just so he could eavesdrop.

Slug seemed to immediately take the hint, motioning them along so he could hurriedly find his seat at the table. "Oh yes, he's a great King! He sings with us, dances and….makes pretty shinies!"

"Does...he?" squeaked Sarah, turning a faint shade of crimson as she sat herself at the head of the table.

"Well, you remember right, Lady?" Sly replied, blotting his hands on a towel and coming over to sit beside Sarah. "You got to see a lot of him in the Labyrinth. Didn't you like him? I mean, he IS the King...and he seemed to spend a lot of time with you…"

"I think that's enough conversation about the King, I am sure he doesn't want us talking about him," Sarah replied coolly after struggling with words as she stared off into space for a few moments, blinking herself back to reality as she looked at Sly with a frown.

 _Uh huh, I thought so_ _,_ he thought smugly. "Of course, Lady."

Dinner was a strained affair after that, no one saying much.

"Can we watch a movie, Lady? Like the ones at school?" Pumpkin asked once they were done, helping Sarah with the dishes. Sly had stood back, watching everything with a sense of awe. He'd never seen goblins be so... coordinated...in his entire life. _If the King messes this up_ , Sly thought, _I'm going to be very worried about his mental state._

"Sure, darling. What kind of movie would you like to see?" Sarah asked Pumpkin with a smile, ruffling her hair as Pumpkin loaded the silverware from the sink into the small container that held it in the washer of dishes metal box.

"Can it be one with a happy family and a Lady and a King that live happily ever after?" Pumpkin asked, giving Sarah a big doe-eyed smile.

Sly grimaced, smacking a hand over his face. _That was a little too thick, Pumpkin!_

"Um, let me think…" Sarah swallowed, nervously laughing, moving with them into the living room. She stood over her small boxes she called videos, trying to decide which one to select. The goblins all lined themselves up on the sofa and Sly glared at Pumpkin who shrugged helplessly as if to say 'I tried?'

"Ahah!" They all jerked, hearing Sarah's triumphant cry as she turned, waiving a box. They stared, dumbfounded, and she chuckled faintly with embarrassment. "Right, you can't read. Well, not all of you...I think…" She looked between them and tapped the box. "How about this one? It's called the Parent Trap!"

"Oooooooohhhh…" they all replied in unison, eyes wide.

As the movie played and Sarah joined them to watch, Sly narrowed his eyes as a slow grin spread across his face. _Now this….this could work…._

Once the movie ended and Sarah began to clean up, Pumpkin yawned, blinking sleepily as she curled up in the warm spot Sarah had left on the couch. She was tired. All she wanted to do was to curl up in bed and go to sleep. She was just drifting off when Scrabble nudged her.

With a sigh, Pumpkin rubbed her tired little eyes with her fists, pushing herself up to sit on the couch. "What'dya want, Scrabble? M'sleepy!"

"Sly says he gots an idea, no sleepin'," Scrabble whispered.

It took a moment for Scrabble's words to register. When they did, Pumpkin perked up. Her brother always had good ideas and she wanted to hear this one, especially if it was about how to make the Lady happy again.

"All right, it's bedtime everyone!" Sarah came out of the kitchen, drying her hands a dish towel that she carried with her. She ushered them down the hall toward her bedroom and they all filed ahead of her with a minimum of grumbling

Sarah followed them into the bedroom, tossing the dirty dishrag into her hamper as did. She shot them an odd look as they all piled into their bed without complaint. Last time she had pronounced it to be bedtime, they had whined and complained for a solid ten minutes before settling down.

When Sarah went into the bathroom to change, Pumpkin scrambled up onto her bed, settling into the nest of blankets she ordinarily slept in.

"Pumpkin, watcha doin'?" Chatter hissed, darting over to the side of the bed. "Sly's gonna tell us 'bout his plan."

"I know," Pumpkin whispered. "But Lady will know somethin's up if I don't sleep here. I come down when she falls asleep."

Chatter glanced over at the others. Seeing Sly's nod, he shrugged and scampered back to the communal sleeping place shared by the others just as Sarah came out of the bathroom. Pumpkin snuggled down next to her as she reached over to switch off the light.

"Night guys," Sarah said into the darkness.

"Night." The chorus of goodnight's sounded from across the room as Sarah laid down next to Pumpkin.

They waited a long time for Sarah to fall asleep. Pumpkin had to work hard to keep herself awake, constantly pinching herself and to ward off sleep. She noticed that Sarah sighed a great deal, tossing and turning, flipping her pillow and twisting the sheets around herself as she did so. Once, Pumpkin thought she heard her mutter a name. It sounded like 'Jareth' but she wasn't sure. In any case, it seemed to Pumpkin that Sarah was going to stay up all night.

When she was finally sure that Sarah was fully asleep, Pumpkin slipped out of the bed and tiptoed across the room to where the others were. They were all sitting up, waiting for her as she squirmed into the pile of blankets next to Sly.

"Thought you'd never make it down here," her brother grunted, bopping her on the head with his large hand.

Irritated, she shoved his hand away. "Quit it, Sly! S'not funny!"

"Shhhh!" Scrabble shushed them as Sarah rolled over, muttering under her breath once more.

They all froze, watching the bed. When Sarah stopped muttering and settled back down, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't want her to get suspicious.

"So... what's the plan?" Tripp asked.

Sly leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. "Remember the movie?"

"What movie," Slug asked, a bit too loudly. They all shushed him and he grunted. "Sorry. What movie?"

"The one we just watched, you dunce!" Scrabble hissed, smacking him upside the head.

"Ow! Don't hit, Scrabble! No bullying, remember!? I'm gonna tell Lady on you!" Slug's voice rose higher and higher until they all tackled him, trying to smother the noise he was making before it woke Lady Sarah up.

"Shut up, Slug!" Sly growled. "If you don't I'm gonna drag you home and assign you to run all the errands I can think of 'til you're thin as a biting stick! I'll bring someone else in to enjoy all the food here at Lady's house."

At that threat, Slug instantly stopped struggling and lay quiet. The others cautiously climbed off him and resumed their places, glaring at the large goblin. He sat sheepishly in his spot, keeping his head down and muttering to himself about not wanting to miss out on the food.

Pumpkin had stayed out of it, slipping under Sarah's bed, and listening carefully for any hint that her mistress was awake while she watched the quiet wrestling going on across the room. She knew from experience that when the bigger goblins tussled, she was likely to get squashed flat. Once she saw that the brief fight was over, she trotted over to where they all sat.

"You done yet? I'm sleepy," she complained, throwing herself into the mussed up pile of blankets.

Sly patted her gently. "Soon, Sli- I mean, Pumpkin." She smiled sleepily at her big brother. He still wasn't used to her new name. Pumpkin wondered how he felt about her no longer belonging to Kingy. Impulsively, she grabbed his arm before he could pull it back and hugged it tight.

Sly smiled at her but didn't say anything. He gently pulled his arm away before leaning forward to whisper once more. "So, d'ya remember the movie we just watched?"

They rest of them nodded, even Slug. Pumpkin rolled her eyes. Slug probably didn't remember, but he was smart enough not to ask any more questions.

Sly continued, "Well those girls, they played all sorts of tricks to get the man and the lady to like each other enough to wanna get married."

Scrabble giggled, eyeing Chatter, who sat next to her in the dark. Chatter ducked his head and squirmed a little uncomfortably. From her position lying down, Pumpkin could see the smile on his face and the way he kept shooting glances back at Scrabble. They were so ridiculously sweet on each other that she wanted to clap her hands and squeal with glee, but she didn't. Sly would get upset, she knew. He didn't like to be interrupted when he was telling them about a plan.

Sly continued, "Now's the way I see it. They didn't do nothing we couldn't do. Goblins are the best at pranks and tricks. We are going to use that to get Kingy and Lady to fall in love with each other and get married. We'll get to spend way more time with her when she moves Underground. And Kingy won't be such a canker anymore. Win-win. You see?"

Pumpkin could hardly contain her excitement at this beautiful idea. Indeed everyone seemed to be in awe of her dear brother's genius. Eyes wide, mouths hanging open, they stared at him in revelation. For once in complete silence.

"So what's first?" Pumpkin asked, her tiny voice vibrating with excitement.

Sly answered with a wicked grin of sharp teeth and Pumpkin's excitement rose even higher as he detailed his first idea for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The house was dark except for some sunlight creeping through the blinds on this particular Saturday morning. The unsuspecting Lady walked out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Having slept in a bit on her 'day off' it was rather later than she usually got up. Sly looked around the room from his position on the ceiling fan to make sure everyone else was in their correct spots. Slug, being the tallest, had his hand hovering over the light switches. Scrabble and Pumpkin were flanking him on either side with their above ground contraptions. Tripp was in the kitchen after his preparations there and was ready to blow on a stately Goblin horn. All was ready. He raised his hand to give the signal.

Three.

Two.

One.

"SURPRIIIIIISE!"

The lights flared on, the horn sounded, and the confetti from the girls poofed all around the Lady. Not unlike the Kingy's glitter Sly noted now that he was observing it. He only had a small moment to feel the pride of a good plan. Because the Lady let out a blood curdling screech that startled him so much he fell off the fan with a yelp of his own. Then the rest joined in, either because they were scared, or simply because everyone else was doing it. Finally the Lady stopped screaming. Gripping her heart like she was having the soul ripped out of her and doubling over to catch her breath. The all froze in terror while she recovered herself.

"WHAT?! Why? Jesus you guys SCARED me! What's this all about?"

Pumpkin slunk forward in shame, taking the responsibility as Sarah's own goblin.

"It...it's a surprise, Lady. It's our anni-anni-annivarsity today."

"Anniversary," Scrabble corrected.

"Yea," piped Tripp from the kitchen, "We've been with you for two whole weeks today! It's Saturday! Come see! Come see!"

Sarah took a deep calming breath. "Well I'm certainly awake now. Heart attack is better than caffeine. Let's have a look." She walked on over to the kitchen rubbing off confetti, goblins falling in line behind her like a row of ducklings.

Inside the kitchen was the work of Tripp's pure genius. He might be a klutz, but he knew his good cooking. That's why he'd been in charge of the food. After Sarah had gone to sleep the night before, Tripp had brought the best of the Goblin wares whipped up by his own self through the portal. The delectable feast was now spread on the table before them.

There were fruit pastries dripping in nectar syrup, eggs three ways, assortments of cheeses, and best of all... fresh spiced nut bread. The King's breakfast for their dear Lady. Standing out amongst the foreign food stood a bottle of red wine from Sarah's wine cupboard. At least, the bottle was. The original bottle that the blood red liquid had actually come from was sitting in a dumpster five blocks away. 'Fae Forever Cabernet 12546' an excellent year from his majesty's own stores. Nicked and swapped lovingly by the industrious larceny of Sly. The reasoning being, if Kingy talked about her while he was drunk on this stuff, she would talk about him. Maybe, just maybe, enough to call him and break the restrictions she'd placed on him.

"What's this?" she asked, reaching for the bottle and attempting to read the faded label. Chatter opened his mouth to reply but Sly slapped the back of his head, flashing Sarah a megawatt smile. "It's, uh, some breakfast wine. We thought you'd like some of your wine with breakfast. You know, in honor of your victory!"

Sarah raised a single eyebrow but shrugged, popping the top of the bottle and pouring a healthy dose of it into the glass beside the plate they had placed at her spot on the table. She smiled as she looked over the foodstuffs that they had brought her before spooning a few selections onto her plate. Looking back at the goblins and seeing that they all were staring at her intently, she snorted faintly and grinned, sipping at her wine and eventually rolling her eyes. Slug even appeared to be drooling, but he was doing his best to be patient while the Lady served herself first.

"Oh, _fine._ Come and join me," she said, rolling her eyes with a grin. The goblins let out a chorus of cheers, as they surged forward to join her at the table. She leaned back, munching on her food while sipping the wine, narrowing her eyes as she looked at the red substance in her glass. It was good, _really good_ _._ Shrugging a shoulder, she took a few more sips and refilled her glass.

An hour later, Sarah was laying half-on, half-off the couch, giggling and thrusting a pillow up to her face to muffle the sounds of her laughter.

"You sure this was a good idea?" Chatter asked with a frown as he and Sly tipped their heads to the side and scratched their chins, at a loss for what to do. "She hasn't mentioned Kingy yet."

"Kingy! Kiiiiiiiiingy," Sarah lifted the pillow, pointing a finger at their pants. "With a big fat package!" Shrieking with laughter, she fell off the couch as she brought the pillow back to her face.

Sly shuddered and Chatter simply looked confused. The others were still in the kitchen, eating the remnants of the breakfast feast and talking amongst themselves.

"What's this about a package?" Pumpkin murmured, stepping into the room, carrying a piece of spiced nut bread between her fingers. She munched quietly, looking at Sarah rolling around on the floor laughing then back at her brother and his friend, thoroughly confused.

"He's got one hell of a package!" Sarah shrieked, lifting the pillow again. "I'd like to get my hands on that package. I wonder if he delivers in less than two hours, like Amazon Prime?"

Whatever that meant sent Sarah back into hysterics. The goblins simply stared, completely at a loss. Sly was getting irritated and panicked, they had lost control of the situation entirely.

"She say his name yet?" Scrabble asked, trotting into the room, staring down at Sarah.

"No," groused Sly. "She's muttering about packages."

"Oooorrrr, like an anaconda!" shouted Sarah, making the goblins blink and turn, looking at her. "My thing don't want none unless you got…" She giggled, then hiccuped, slouching back down on the floor.

"She's officially lost it," Scrabble commented. Sly turned to glare at her and she simply shrugged.

"Oh come ON! You guys don't have Sir Mixalot in the Underground? I bet him and Sir Didymus would be buds!"

For some reason, this made her cackle again. She got up from the ground, wobbling, before walking over to the stereo.

"I don't think I have the original, but I have this!" She pushed on one of the buttons and somehow the voice of what must have been some kind of banshee filled the room. Sarah singing along off key and dancing much like Kingy did when drinking.

"Boy toy named Troy used to live in Detroit. Big dope dealer money, he was gettin some coins…"

The goblins huddled together, half covering their ears from the auditory assault.

"What do we estimate now?" whispered Scrabble harshly.

"Huh?" Sly shot her a confused look and then shrugged clearly as frustrated as the rest of the group. But he refused to give up. After all, Lady didn't.

"Well we will just have to think of something else. Kingy usually goes to sleep after a lot of drinking. When she goes we can think up some new ideas."

"Goblin Kingy named…"

All six heads sharply pivoted to stare at Sarah in anticipation. Their breath held tight as her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Named...damn. What IS his name?"

Pumpkin took a big breath to answer but it came out in a big lackluster whoosh as they saw Sarah faint dead away onto the floor.

They all facepalmed and muttered.

"Well, frak."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer** \- We do not own any of the original characters from the movie and we do not profit from our storytelling in any way.

A/N - Our apologies for taking so long to update. We have all been fairly wrapped up in our other stories and real life threw us a few curve balls in the past month or so. Hopefully we can get back to a more frequent posting schedule on our Fates stories!

* * *

It took the goblins a considerable length of time to drag Sarah's comatose form into bed and dutifully tuck her in. Once she was wrapped up properly in the covers, the group sat back, slung across the floor in various states of exhaustion, struggling to catch their breath.

"Who's idiot idea was this again?" groused Chatter in an uncharacteristic show of frustration. Sly glared over at him and Chatter glared right back, gesturing towards the snoring Lady wrapped up in bedsheets. She would most likely have the hangover of the century and Sly winced faintly, grunting in acknowledgement that perhaps Chatter was right- this HAD been a bad idea.

"So then what else do you suggest?" he asked with mild annoyance of his own. "We can't just give up now. We've put too much effort into this. I refuse to see Kingy sulk another year! It's getting completely ridiculous!"

Pumpkin sat up slowly, still struggling to catch her breath and straightening the clothes Sarah had put her in. She looked over and shook her head when the others turned to her, simply climbing into the bed with Sarah. "Nope, don't look at me. I'm staying with the Lady. She's all sleepy and I don't like it. We shouldn't have done that to her! She's been nothing but nice!"

"Well, we did learn she likes him, right?" Sly offered, wincing as Pumpkin gave him a look of angry resentment. She harrumphed and finished settling beside Sarah, gently patting a wet towel against Sarah's cheeks as she snored.

Sly sighed but heard the others murmur in agreement, glancing around at their faces. "I'm waiting for suggestions…" he muttered, motioning for anyone to come up with anything that might resemble a plan.

"What if we liberate a crystal? From Kingy? And give it to her? And if she was holding it long enough, he could find her...right? Isn't that how they work?" Scrabble offered. Chatter once more beamed in adulation at her suggestion.

"That's a PERFECT idea!" he gushed, making Scrabble blush. Her reaction was brief and she soon shrugged off Chatter's praise. She fluffed her hair and moved her eyes back to Sly, seeing what he thought of the plan.

Sly scratched his chin as Tripp concurred with the newest idea. "I think it can work, but doesn't he have to make one? How we gonna do that? We can't tell him it's for the Lady…"

"Piss 'im off, have one of the chickens catch it," offered Slug from where he was still laying spread eagle on the other side of the room.

Everyone blinked and turned, looking at him. Slug felt their stare and tipped his head to the side so that he could see them. "What?"

"That's…actually...genius," Sly admitted, grinning faintly. Slowly, he stood. "RIGHT! So, we need one of those crystals. Who wants to volunteer to upset the King?"

He waited for someone to volunteer - and waited….and waited….

Scowling, he looked over them with a roll of his eyes. "Oh, come on…"

In unison, they all pointed at him. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Frak."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sneaking through the portal by the central square in the Goblin City was surprisingly difficult today. When he thought about it though, Sly figured that he shouldn't have been surprised. It was still the week of the anniversary of 'She Who Shall Not Be Named' and her victory over the King. This meant that the streets were packed with goblins who were attempting to avoid Jareth's moody wrath. Still, goblins being goblins, the atmosphere was chaotic, if a little more subdued than usual. There were plenty of low key parties going on, making it difficult to slip through without being invited to join in a drink or a game every few steps.

Sly managed it with a bit of luck. A chicken race was just starting on the next street, prompting most of the goblins loitering near the portal to make their way over to cheer and take bets on which chicken would make it across the finish line without making a mad dash for freedom on the way. When he thought the coast was clear, Sly slipped through and glanced around, motioning rapidly for Tripp and Chatter to join him. They had decided to leave Slug and Scrabble back with Sarah, in the event she woke and was not feeling well from the effects of the Underground wine.

As soon as Tripp and Chatter were through the portal, Sly immediately closed it and motioned for them to follow him up towards the castle grounds. A few others muttered words of prayer and safe travels, seeing where they were headed. Sly attempted to smile but ended up just warily staring up at the castle that reared up in the distance, hoping he didn't end up in the bog. Making Jareth angry enough to get ahold of one of his blasted crystals on the sly was not for the faint of heart, after all.

"This better be worth it," he muttered, ignoring Tripp and Chatter's amused smirks as they slipped into the castle proper and made their way towards the throne room.

When they arrived, the throne room was empty save for the King sitting on his big chair with his knees drawn up to his chin. He had dark circles under his eyes and seemed to be staring off into nothing. There weren't even any bottles around. The silence in the room was so heavy you could almost see it. The goblins looked at each other in dismay. This might be a new level of misery they were discovering. Looking back at Jareth, Sly's heart twitched a bit with pity for his mentor, and for what he was about to do. Still, a mission is a mission.

He nodded at the other two to get in position. They split off, hiding in the shadows on opposite sides of the room waiting to catch the crystal wherever it went. Then Sly took a deep breath and approached the throne.

"Kingy!" He yelled to get his attention. Jareth didn't even turn his gaze. Only letting slip a small,"Hm?"

"Try to call for my sister please."

That got some of his notice. An eyebrow quirking up over a slightly annoyed glint in his eye. But he didn't even ask why.

He merely murmured, "Slink, attend me."

That same eyebrow knitted with its twin in confusion as the lack of Pumpkin's presence began to register. The King slowly rose to his feet, looking around in confusion and anger.

"Slink! Get in here now!"

Again, of course, there was no answer.

The Goblin King lowered his eyes to Sly who didn't look scared or surprised.

"Explain," he demanded in a deadly tone.

Sly gathered the small amount of courage he had for this, his mouth felt dry and his knees trembled underneath him. He was about to do something incredibly foolish.

"Slink is no more. She's called Pumpkin now. The Lady Named her. Now she's hers."

Jareth's eyes sharpened to blades of shock and outrage. But his voice remained dangerously even.

"The...Lady?" he asked

"Yes, sire. The Lady Sarah. My mates and I have been going Above to visit her. And she Named Pumpkin by mistake."

Sly braced himself for the onslaught of rage, closing his yes tightly to avoid seeing what he knew must be coming. He had said Sarah's name, not to mention acknowledged and confessed to their topside dealings. There was no way he would survive the angry outburst his misdeeds were sure to cause.

But it didn't come. He warily opened his scrunched eyes to see the King fumbling behind him for his chair and sitting down slowly. A dazed look spread over his features. It seemed like he didn't even see Sly or his surroundings anymore. Eventually he let out a cold scoff.

"It's so unfair."

He summoned a crystal into his hands. The Goblins held their breath.

"Even the smallest creatures of my kingdom become her vassals, admirers, and...friends." He turned the crystal over in his hands, staring into the black clouds that had formed within it. "But I, the Master of The Labyrinth and Lord of all I see. I who can have or conjure whatever I please at a moment's notice. Poor wretch... I'm not priveleged to have even a glimpse of her."

He let the crystal slip out of his fingers and ping on the stone floor. Rolling unheeded and forgotten, right into Chatter's waiting hands. Both goblin and prize disappeared into the darkness.

Sly looked back to the King to notice a few tears begin to run down his stony features. As despair overtook his countenance, his body began to shiver.

His voice was a broken whisper as he issued one single order:

"Leave me."

Then he once again curled into a ball on his mighty throne. And wept.

The others stared for a moment but Sly hurriedly ushered them out, glancing back once more at Jareth before closing the doors to the throne room as quietly as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"FRAK, ARE YOU NUTS?" Chatter yelled at Sly once they were a reasonable distance away from the throne room. Sly's legs chose that moment to give out and he sagged against the wall, trembling and sucking in air through his nose, realizing he had been holding his breath since they left the throne room.

"Yeah, apparently he is," Tripp muttered, glancing at Sly like he had lost his mind. He looked around them to make sure they were alone before whispering to Sly, "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking we needed that crystal," Sly snapped, but he trembled again and looked around wildly. "I keep waiting for the walls to spin and to find myself swimming waist deep in waters that smell worse than the Aboveground dumps…"

"He hasn't done it…yet... at least..." Chatter tried to offer in encouragement but Sly shoved his hand off, running a shaky hand through his hair. He really had risked it all, but seeing Jareth break down like that left him troubled. What did it mean? Was the King truly that distraught over the Lady?

"Did you SEE the way he reacted?" Tripp chose that moment to whisper, Chatter nodded, his eyes wide.

"I know. I've never seen him like that. I'm not sure what it means, but he's really torn up over the Lady. Why can't he see her? That's odd. You think this crystal idea is still going to work? It didn't work in the throne room, you saw it just as well as I did." Chatter started, only for Sly to interrupt him by grabbing a fistful of his hair and shoving him back, making him slam into Tripp and send him sprawling.

"I. DID. NOT. JUST. RISK. MY. LIFE. TO. GIVE. UP. NOW." He spat in exaggerated tones, irate and glaring at the two of them. Tripp rubbed his head where it had bounced against the floor when Chatter crashed into him. Both scowled but balked under Sly's considerable panic-induced rage. "WE WILL GO BACK TO SARAH AND GIVE HER THAT CRYSTAL. AM I CLEAR?"

"Yes! Good grief, yes!" Chatter replied hastily as Sly stalked forward and snatched said crystal out of Chatter's hands, marching towards the main entrance to the castle proper. Tripp and Chatter frowned but stood and hastily followed Sly out of the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He did WHAT?" Scrabble yelped, a look of shock on her features. "And you told him WHAT?"

It wasn't often that Scrabble was at a loss for words, but this was one of those moments. They all stared at Sly, even Tripp and Chatter, as he recounted their tale of collecting the crystal. Sly scowled at the looks of horror and shock on Slug, Scrabble, and Pumpkin's faces - unified in their affront of what had occurred.

"Look, none of you guys volunteered to make him angry enough to summon a crystal, and given the state he's been in, I figured that would definitely set him off," Sly replied with exasperation. "I got the crystal, didn't I? And for all I know, I could've wound up in the bog! YOU SHOULD BE THANKING ME!"

"I made Kingy cry?" A timid voice to his left made him pause and hesitate as he drew another breath to continue his tirade.

Pumpkin stared at Sly with mournful eyes, sniffing and wiping at her nose. A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I didn't want to make Kingy cry…" she whispered, looking sadly back at Sarah, who was still comatose but decidedly better looking than when Sly and the others had left to fetch the crystal from the King.

"Hey, now, it wasn't you." Sly offered, coming up and patting his sister on the shoulder. "It's the Lady he's upset over. He just really wants to see her and for some reason, he can't."

"Why not?" Pumpkin asked between sniffles, frowning, but looking slowly more spirited. Sly smiled briefly and tugged her beside him, everyone sitting in a small circle on the carpeted floor of Sarah's bedroom.

"Something about his magic can't find her," Chatter supplied, looking over at Pumpkin. Pumpkin frowned, looking at the crystal Sly had. With a small smile, he handed it to her. Pumpkin gripped the crystal carefully with both hands, peering into it and rattling it between her small fists.

"I don't get it. Is it broken? What does that mean, he can't see her?"

"Not sure," supplied Chatter with a shrug. Everyone briefly looked sad, glancing back at the Lady. They didn't want to betray her any more than they did their King, but they knew the two needed to spend time together. It was the only thing that made sense to get them both happy again.

Sly gestured to the crystal. "We gotta give this to the Lady, ok?"

Pumpkin nodded with a final sniff and stood. Sly walked over to the side of the bed with his sister and gave her a boost up onto it. She scrambled up awkwardly, her little fist clenched tight around the precious crystal. Once on the bed, she crawled her way to Sarah's hand and gently placed the crystal inside her sleeping fingers.

"Please, please, PLEASE work for Lady and Kingy," she whispered to it. And she wished with all her might.

The crystal popped and Sarah opened her eyes.

***Underground***

"Please, please, PLEASE work for Lady and Kingy…"

The little voice floated through the air, shattering the stillness in the throne room. Jareth's eyes shot open as he became aware of Sarah for the first time in years. It was so unexpected, so shocking, that he stumbled as he tried to rise from his throne.

His voice was ragged as he broke his own law to whisper her name.

"Sarah?"

***Above***

"You ok, Lady?" Pumpkin peered down at Sarah as she blinked groggily.

Sarah groaned incoherently, slowly detangling one of her arms from the blankets she was cocooned in and bringing her hand up to clutch at her head.

"Lady?"

Sarah rubbed her hand across her eyes and grimaced. "What time is it?"

Pumpkin glanced at the others. Sly made a motion with his hands, urging her to keep Sarah talking. "Almost night time, Lady!"

"What!?" Pumpkin tumbled down to the foot of the bad as Sarah shot upright, only to quickly sink back against her pillow with another groan. Pumpkin struggled to regain her balance and crawled back up toward Sarah, glaring at the other goblins as she tried her best to comfort her obviously ill mistress

"What was in that wine, you guys?" Sarah finally asked as she gingerly sat up and put her feet on the floor.

Every single goblin was suddenly very interested in the carpet that covered the floor of the bedroom. There wasn't anything they could say if they were going to follow the Lady's rule about not lying. Luckily, Sarah didn't wait for an answer before she staggered to her feet, swaying slightly as she tried to regain her equilibrium.

Pumpkin squeaked in fear as Sarah swayed and looked like she might fall over at any moment. Luckily, Sarah caught herself, bracing her hand against the wall as she headed for the bathroom.

"Where'd the crystal go?" Sly demanded as soon as Sarah was out of the room. He jumped up on the bed and pushed the covers around, searching for any sign of the crystal.

Pumpkin shrugged. "S'gone."

"What!? What happened?" Sly whispered, sounding defeated.

Pumpin sighed. "It just popped in her hand." She shrugged. "I dunno if it worked or not."

"Well, Kingy isn't here…" Scrabble said cautiously, looking around. "Maybe he got derailed?"

Sly groaned and Tripp rolled his eyes at her misuse of another word. Chatter was too busy staring in awe at her to notice what she actually said and Pumpkin remained silent, not wanting to hurt her friends feelings. She might be younger than the others, but she was far smarter than most of the horde. All the goblins in her family were. That's why they were generally among those favored by the King.

Before anyone could reply, Sarah made her way out of the bathroom. Completely ignoring them, she headed for the kitchen. Curiously, the six goblins trailed after her. It was unusual for the Lady to ignore them like that.

When they arrived at the kitchen, they found Sarah rummaging in a cupboard, muttering to herself and stopping to clutch her head every now and then. A large bottle of of round, white, pebbles sat on the counter.

"Where is it, where is it, where is it," the Lady muttered to herself.

Cautiously, Pumpkin approached her. She was the Lady's goblin, after all. So if Lady needed help, then it was now Pumpkin's job to do it. Still, it made her very nervous. Sarah still wasn't acting completely like herself and the little goblin wondered if they had somehow poisoned her with that wine.

"Lady?"

Sarah groaned and threw up her hands dramatically. "Great! I don't have any Gatorade!" The goblins all watched with wide eyes as the Lady slumped against the counter and rubbed her head, her hands digging into her hair.

"What's Gat- Gat-o…Gat - rad?" Chatter asked. "Is it magic?"

"Don't be a dunce," Tripp retorted. "You know there's no magic aboveground."

"Can you eat it?" Slug wanted to know.

Pumpkin glared at them all. It was clear to her that something was very wrong with Sarah. She didn't understand how the rest of them could have missed it. She sent a pleading look to her brother.

"Shut up," Sly ordered them harshly.

Silence descended on the kitchen for a moment. Pumpkin looked up at the Lady. Sarah's face was now hidden from the others by the fall of her hair, but Pumpkin could see the look of abject misery on her face. Tears began to slip out of her eyes at the thought of what they had done to her mistress.

"Lady… we- we…" Pumpkin hung her head, unable to continue her apology as she broke into sobs. Instantly, she felt herself lifted into Sarah's arms.

"Shhhh, it's ok, Pumpkin. I'm just hungover and unprepared for it."

The others watched in awe as Sarah comforted the smallest member of their group, despite obviously not feeling well herself. They were unused to such treatment. Kingy never comforted them if they were sad or upset. They couldn't even imagine him taking the time to do so when he was feeling ill from the effects of too much alcohol!

Sarah placed Pumpkin on the floor before snatching the bottle of white pebbles from the counter. She opened it and took out two, which she popped into her mouth and washed down with a glass of water.

Always interested in anything that might be food, Slug watched avidly. "What's those?"

Sarah made a face. "Medicine for my head."

Slug looked slightly crestfallen but Scrabble nodded sagely. "I thought so."

"Well, come on. I'm going to have to get to the store before my head explodes." Sarah rubbed her temples and headed out of the kitchen.

While Sarah started to search for her shoes, the goblin's looked at each other in shock before racing to the door. They'd never heard of a mortal's heads exploding before, but then again, mortals rarely got to drink fae wine either. Overall, they thought it better not to risk it by being too slow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they slipped out the door behind Sarah, careful to stay hidden, Sly glanced around. He was looking for any sign of the King. Surely, it wouldn't take long for him to show up now that the Lady had touched a crystal?

But, as they headed into the crowded shopping area not far from Sarah's apartment, there was still no sign of the Kingy. Sly was puzzled, and slightly angry. He had literally risked everything to get that crystal, only to have it pop like a soap bubble before it could be of any use. He trailed along behind the others, muttering and cursing under his breath as his mood soured.

The area was busy, teeming with young people out having drinks and couples having dinner at the many restaurants that mingled with the various shops. Sly was grateful that it was late in the evening. This meant that there were almost no children around. Sly grunted. Children always seemed to be able to spot a goblin who was trying to hide. It was like they could sense them, and after the day he'd had, Sly was in no mood to dodge the notice of curious little humans.

As Sarah wound her way down the tree lined paths of the outdoor mall, the goblins stayed out of sight, keeping to the shadows under the trees and the cover of the other plants that were arranged in beds all along the walkways. Sly did his best to keep up with the others as he watched their surroundings for any sign of Jareth. Briefly, he reflected that this area, with it's many pathways and plazas surrounded by buildings, was very much like a labyrinth. He didn't have time to dwell on it because it was at that moment that Lady Sarah ducked into a store and Scrabble let out a small shriek.

Sly rushed up to where the group was huddled under a large bush.

"You wanna get caught? Shut up!" he hissed at Scrabble. She ignored him. She was staring across the street with a look of horror and excitement on her face. Sly looked quickly in the direction that she was staring, but didn't see anything.

"What?" he whispered.

Chatter nudged his arm and pointed, careful to keep his movements inconspicuous. "Look! Kingy!"

Sly whipped around, his eyes searching the far walkway.

Sure enough, he saw his king striding down the path. Gone was the vacant, hollow eyed stare that Sly had last seen on Jareth's face. Now he looked intently at every woman he passed, searching her face for a few seconds before dismissing her and moving on.

"Kingy!" Pumpkin squealed when she saw him. She bounced on her toes and looked up at Sly, grasping his hand and tugging slightly. "Should we call him?"

Sly glanced at the store that Sarah had gone into and then back across the brightly lit street, as he thought about it. He watched a large car roll slowly past, its headlights sliding over their hiding spot, causing them to duck down slightly.

"No, better not. There's no way some human won't notice us, and you all know the rules. We aren't supposed to be seen."

Pumpkin looked disappointed. "But… but… how will he find Lady?"

Sly shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe she'll come out soon?"

They waited, alternating between watching Jareth and watching the storefront for any sign of Lady Sarah. They held their breath when the Kingy paused directly across the street, looking around in frantic confusion.

When he stepped out into the street and hurried over to their side, Sly felt like cheering. Jareth paused as soon as he stepped up onto the sidewalk. He stood between the store and a bar, looking back and forth between the two, clearly unable to decide which one to enter.

Now twelve goblin eyes were locked hopefully on the door of the store Sarah had gone into. There was still no sign of her.

"Where is she?" Tripp asked, moving forward for a better look.

"I don't know," Sly replied. "Maybe we should tell the King now?"

Tripp nodded enthusiastically and turned to make his way out of the bushes. As he did, he lost hold of a branch that he had pushed out of the way. It sprang back, smacking him in the face and sending him lurching backwards into the group. They all tumbled to the ground with cries of surprise.

"Get off!" Sly pushed Tripp off himself and struggled to his feet. Tripp rolled around, hissing in pain with both hands pressed over his eye.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

Sly ignored him, brushing himself off. Chatter, who had been the only one not knocked over by Tripp, groaned.

"What now?"

Sly looked up just in time to see Jareth enter the bar. Only moments later, Sarah came out of the store, a plastic bag slung over her wrist and a bottle of brightly colored liquid already open in her hand. She took a long gulp from the bottle, replaced the cap... and headed immediately back the way they had come without so much as a pause.

"FRAK!" Sly yelled, no longer caring who heard.

Later, when night had finally fallen fully over the area, Sly slumped to the ground in frustration. He ran a hand across his face as he yawned, contemplating their complete and utter failure as Jareth eventually seemed to lose hope, the light dimming in his eyes. Sly watched his king dejectedly cast a simple spell, disappearing as he returned Underground.

Sly pushed himself off the trash can he'd been hiding behind the past few hours while Jareth stormed up and down the street near Sarah's apartment, continuing to fail over and over as he searched for her.

"How'd we managed to ruin this so badly?" He grumped to Tripp, glancing over at the other goblin who'd volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on his Majesty while the others returned to the apartment with Sarah. Tripp said nothing, sound asleep from where he was laying sprawled on the pavement beside the trash can. Rolling his eyes, he shook Tripp awake and motioned for them to return to the apartment.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. What'd I miss?" Tripp asked, stretching as he slowly stood, blinking to clear the sleepiness from his eyes.

"A whole lot of nothing," Sly muttered with annoyance as they walked. "I don't understand how he missed her. Can't those crystals of his sense her? Why was he blindly wandering around like that? She was RIGHT THERE!" He groaned, pinching his nose between two fingers.

"Maybe it don't work like that, I don't know. Magic is all funny, I can't explain it," offered Tripp, as they slipped quietly into Sarah's apartment, looking about for the others.

"Yeah, well, we got them both into this mess, and we're going to get them out of it. He looked awful before he finally went back home." Sly muttered, sliding to the floor and casting an arm over his face. No one told him he'd feel guilt at letting down the King, but he certainly did.

"What's the plan?" whispered Scrabble as she stepped into the living area from Sarah's bedroom. Apparently Sarah had gone back to bed.

"I don't know," muttered Sly, sitting up and watching everyone but Pumpkin come into the room. "I'll go spy on King for a few days, make sure he's alright. The rest of you, figure something out."

With that, he stood, marching to the mirror and stepping through it.

The others looked at one another and sighed. "We messed up tonight," Scrabble commented sadly. Chatter laid a hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, well, we're going to fix it, just like Sly said. Come on, we've got to have another plan. We just need to think it through this time, kay?" Tripp said, watching Slug sit idly by, scratching his stomach.

"Agreed," the others replied, even Slug nodded. Tripp smiled faintly, hoping things were going just as well for Sly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They weren't.

Sly found Jareth in the mess hall, slightly unsteady on his feet as he looked for another bottle of brandy, one already empty in his hand. Scrubbing a fist over his face, Sly sighed, knowing this was not a good sign. If he didn't figure this out soon, his King was destined to become a drunk before the month was over.

"Kingy?" Sly asked softly, stepping into the room.

Jareth whirled, blinking slowly, his eyes glassy as he pointed an accusatory finger at him. Sly gulped.

"You," he hiccuped, then sat down roughly in a chair. "My best scout, come again to grace me with his presence. What, _The Champion grow bored of you so quickly?_ She's like that, I'll warn you." His sneering tone was only slightly vicious, buried under too many layers of drink. Sly guiltily reflected that he should have come sooner.

"No. No Champion. Just came to see you, Kingy." Sly murmured, stepping closer to Jareth. He sat down on the floor, beside Jareth's feet, then leaned against him, feeling awful. Strangely, he felt Jareth's hand reach down and pat his head.

"Sarah is a fickle woman," Jareth muttered, seemingly not believing his reason for his being there, or the remorse in his voice. "I apologize if the mortal upset you. In fact, she managed to upset even _me_ today. I know, I shouldn't debase myself with such things but…" Jareth shrugged and Sly looked up at him, his eyes wide.

"What do you mean?" He gently pushed, curious why his crystal didn't work.

"She touched my magic. I could sense her, but not exactly... only a little... and then…" Jareth stared off into space intently, then shrugged, using his hands to demonstrate a fluttering motion, like something he tried to grasp, only for it to evade his grip. He sighed and pulled the lid off his bottle of brandy, taking a large sip and eventually rising from his seat.

"I'm going to sleep. See to it the others don't disturb me, 'lest they end up in the bog. Goodnight, Sly."

"Goodnight, Kingy." Sly whispered, watching Jareth stumble down the hall.

He sighed, feeling positively horrible in that moment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer** \- We do not own any of the original characters from the movie and we do not profit from our storytelling in any way.

A/N - Happy new year! We are glad to be back! We hope that your holidays were joyous and that your new years resolutions are going well. We are happy to be back writing on our Fates stories after spending November working separately on NaNoWriMo and taking December off to spend with friends and family. We are so glad you came back to our little tale. We just love our goblins and we are hoping that you love them as well!

* * *

Days passed. After their disastrous attempt to get the King and Sarah in the same place, the goblins struggled to come up with another plan that they thought would work. After more than a week without the hint of a workable plan, the goblins began to lose hope. The Lady seemed somehow depressed, and Jareth's reign of terror and self pity continued unabated. Both sets of goblin's moped about, bickering occasionally, but overall behaving themselves. Those with Sarah didn't want to be banished from her apartment for misbehavior, and those who attended to Jareth were already on thin ice after their previous antics. They couldn't afford to make the King angry again, unless they wanted a dunking in the Bog.

Such was the state of affairs that Friday afternoon as Pumpkin lingered in the kitchen area of the daycare. Lady was sitting in a chair, her head in her hands and a faraway look in her eyes.

"Sarah! Earth to Sarah!"

Pumpkin scowled as Sarah jumped slightly, pulled from her musings by the group of women who had entered the room. The little goblin didn't want anyone bothering the Lady when she seemed to pensive.

"What?" Sarah asked.

From her seat on top of the cabinets across the room, Pumpkin watched with interest as Sarah's face turned red. What was Lady thinking of to make her blush so badly, Pumpkin wondered?

"We're going to the club tonight, girl! You should come with us!" one of the other women said, striking a dramatic dance pose.

"I- I don't know. It's not really my thing," Sarah said.

"Oh come on! You never go out! We've got to get you laid girl! You've been depressed and quiet all week. A night out is just what the doctor ordered!"

"We aren't going to leave you alone until you agree to go," another woman japed. "Come on, live a little!"

Pumpkin didn't know what "getting laid" meant, but if it would make Lady happy, then the little goblin thought she should do it. Standing as tall as she could, Pumpkin started to wave her arms and nod enthusiastically, trying to let Sarah know that she thought it was a good idea.

Sarah glanced up at her for a brief moment. Then she shrugged. "If it will make you girls happy, then I'll go, but I am _not_ going out to try and get laid!"

The other women laughed and Pumpkin wondered again what that odd phrase meant. "We'll see… we just need to find you the right package!"

Pumpkin blinked, unsure now exactly what the point of the evening was to be. The other women told Sarah where to meet them and offered advice on what to wear. She tried to pay attention, so she could report on where the Lady was going to be that night, but her mind was whirling. A package? With a sinking heart, Pumpkin began to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

The feeling intensified into a gnawing anxiety as the evening drew on and Pumpkin watched Lady getting ready to leave. She looked quite...sparkly. Her dark hair was piled high and dusted with glitter. Gems dripped from her ears, and the black sequin halter top she wore looked like it was made of an especially flimsy piece of night-time sky. Tight leather pants hugged her curves all the way down to a pair of sky high heels. Never before had she looked so much like a Goblin Queen to Pumpkin. Whatever 'getting laid' was, it was certainly a big deal. And the fact that it was happening without the King made Pumpkin extremely nervous. While Lady was distracted with her peculiar face paints, the little goblin tapped into her old sneaking habits and silently crept away to the bathroom mirror.

After some effort to get up onto the counter, she rapped thrice then twice on the glass and waited. Before too long it began to ripple and shift until her own reflection took on the face of her dear big brother. His brows knit together in the strange mixture of irritation and concern.

"What is it?" he whispered.

Pumpkin leaned in and looked at him with fearful eyes.

"The Lady," Pumpkin whispered, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that she was still alone. She's going to a- a ball with friends t'night. She looks very pretty, Sly. I don't think we can wait much longer. We havs to do something!"

Sly thoughtfully rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes at her. "A ball? Do you know where?"

Pumpkin nodded, glad that she had been smart enough to get the information her brother wanted. "A place called Club Marionette, at 10 o'clock." She raised her hand and pressed it to the glass. "I'm worried, Sly. Lady is really dressed up. She's all sparkly like Kingy is when he goes to balls."

Sly's eyes shifted rapidly in that way that meant he was forming a plan. He put his hand against Pumpkin's on the mirror. "I'll see what we can do. Stay with her, we'll meet you there. And good work, little sister."

Despite her unease, Pumpkin beamed at the praise before clamoring down the counter to return to her post.

Sly would know what to do. He always did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly stared at his reflection in the mirror long after his sister shimmered out of view, his mind whirling and eyes distant. From what his sister reported, it sounded like Lady Sarah was going out of her way to look nice for this ball. He swallowed, remembering some of his friends and their recent fascination with females. He thought back to all of the times he had seen Kingy get ready for a ball and how he had behaved toward the females in attendance. Suddenly, Sly had more than an inkling of what had Pumpkin so nervous.

Grimacing, Sly turned away from the mirror. He hated the idea of Sarah finding another male. Any interest she showed to someone other than the King was not a good thing. Never mind that their plans would go up in smoke quicker than a chicken gobbled corn. No, there were bigger things to worry about, like all the misery _that_ little predicament would rain down on him and anyone else in the kingdom who who had the audacity to get near Jareth once he learned Sarah's attention had been caught by another man.

Muttering to himself, he headed towards the throne room - the most logical place for the King to be. Pushing open of the double doors, Sly squinted as he stared into the room, noting that all the candles were out. There wasn't a single goblin or even a stray chicken about. Raising an eyebrow in question, he glanced towards the throne. There he saw Kingy. The sour look on his face explained the lack of activity in the throne room.

Jareth was slumped on his throne, his booted feet stretched out in front of it. He didn't seem to notice the dimness of the room. He was staring into space, twirling a crystal into the ether.

Suddenly unsure of what to say, Sly eased back, hoping to make a silent and unnoticed escape back out into the hall. He froze when he heard Jareth's sharp tone cut across the room. "Sly. What is it?"

With a sigh, Sly turned back to the King. "I... _ah…_ wanted to see how you were, Kingy. You know, see if you...wanted to...go have some fun?"

He winced at how ridiculous that sounded. _Seriously, that's the best you can manage?_ He chided himself mentally. Unsurprisingly, Jareth didn't seem to believe that load of bull either. Sly swallowed hard as his sovereign shifted his gaze toward him and narrowed his eyes. With a flick of his wrist, Kingy made the crystal he had been idly spinning vanish. Sly fought the urge to wince.

"Why the concern?" Jareth asked, tilting his head to the side in a manner that set Sly's heart rate skyrocketing in his chest. He needed to fix this- and fast, before the King figured out what was really going on. Unfortunately, Sly's brain refused to work. Instead, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"LadySarahisgoingoutandwantstogetlaid," he blurted out so fast, he wondered if it even made sense. The look of shock, then rage, that suffused Kingy's face had Sly's gut sinking - the King knew all _too_ well what that entailed.

" _What?_ " He bolted to a stand, marching towards Sly. Sly eeped, trying to back up, but Jareth had snatched his hand and hoisted him up, conjuring a crystal in his free hand. "Tell me where."

"Some place called Club Marionette at 10 o'clock." Sly managed to squeak.

Jareth snarled, shoving him away and preparing to drop the crystal. It was then that Sly's brain finally decided to start functioning again. "Wait!"

Jareth turned, narrowing his eyes. Sly swallowed, then did his best to look contrite. "Let me come with you. Ya know, to scout things out. And….prepare you to meet Lady. She'll be _really_ happy to see you, I swear it."

Jareth seemed to mull this over, his eyes narrowing, before he rolled them and grabbed his wrist again, dropping the crystal.

Just as the world went black, Sly had the smarts to panic. _What in the world did I just do?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sly scurried behind Kingy as he stalked through the crowded club, searching for Lady Sarah. The loud music and amped up bass boomed through him, drowning out the pounding of his heart as they looked for Sarah and her friends. With a grimace, Sly tried to avert his eyes from the many couples that appeared to be doing what humans called "making out." All this interest in girls was gross in his opinion and the less he had to see of it, the better. He couldn't wait to get out of there.

Someone grabbed him from behind and he shrieked slightly, not expecting anyone to even see him, much less grab him. Whirling around, he saw Scrabble holding a finger to her lips and beckoning him away from Kingy.

"Lady's over yonder," she yelled in his ear after he followed her some distance away from Jareth, struggling to be heard above the music.

"Where's Pumpkin?" he yelled, worried about his little sister in spite of himself. Pumpkin was so little and generally sweet, he couldn't imagine her in this setting.

"Hiding in Lady's purse. She said it's too loud in here!"

Sly nodded and glanced around, searching the crowd for Jareth. Maybe if he let Kingy see that the Lady was with other girls as quickly as possible then they could leave. Somehow, in the few moments that he had been talking with Scrabble, the King had disappeared.

"Great, now I lost Kingy!" Sly yelled, throwing his hands up.

""What?" Scrabble yelled, glancing over her shoulder to check on Sarah and the other goblins before turning back to him.

"I said I LOST KINGY!"

"How'd ya do that? Is he incontinent tonight?"

Sly's jaw dropped. He thought he must have heard her wrong.

"Did you just ask if the King is incontinent!?" he yelled.

"Yeah! Is he in disguise?" She looked around. "Hey! Did Chatter come with you?"

Sly huffed indignantly and shook his head. Scrabble looked slightly crestfallen. Sly rolled his eyes, muttering about females as he edged toward Sarah's table, careful to stay out of her sight. He didn't want to tip her off about the Kingy being there. She would probably be suspicious if she saw him.

He made it safely under the bench that Sarah was sitting on and listened to her and the other girls talk while he searched the crowded club for the King. Just as he saw Jareth coming toward them, he heard Sarah's voice ring out above him. The sound caught Jareth's attentions as well and Sly held his breath, hoping that Kingy couldn't hear over the music.

"He was the most arrogant and self satisfied man I've ever met!" Sarah announced loudly. She wasn't black out drunk as she had been when they gave her Fae wine, but Sly knew that tone of voice. The Lady had been drinking. He cringed as he saw Jareth scowl at her words and move closer to Sarah and her friends. This was going to be bad.

"Oh, was he at least cute?" Another of the girls at the table asked.

"Honestly," Sarah said, with a resigned wistfulness. "He was the most gorgeous man I've ever laid eyes on."

Sly saw Jareth's eyes widen and his eyebrows shoot up at this. At least he stopped advancing on the table. Instead, the Goblin King slid into an empty seat out of the Lady's line of sight but close enough to continue listening to the shouted conversation going on at her table.

"Oooh!" The women at the table all sighed.

"But!" Sarah yelled. "He knew he was good looking and he flaunted it. With his glittery everything and his tight pants. Seriously! Nothing left to the imagination!"

The women at the table all shrieked with laughter at this and Sly watched Kingy's shoulders tighten. He couldn't see his king's face, but he could imagine that he wasn't very happy with what he was hearing.

"What did he look like?"

"What was his name?"

"Oh he was tall, with light hair and striking eyes. And he had this...this way about him. Like he was dangerous, but strangely also the safest place I could be. He was mesmerizing and mysterious. And even as we fought, all I ever wanted to do was know him. Like, does a man like that even have a favorite color?"

Sarah's voice had gotten distant, like she'd forgotten her friends were even there. Kingy sat perfectly still, Sly could tell he wasn't even breathing. Sarah's friends looked confused and eventually one of them put a hand out, waving it in front of Sarah's face. Lady snapped back to herself then, seeming self conscious.

"But, he was such an arrogant prick!" Sarah exclaimed. There was a slurping sound as Sarah finished her drink. "Come on! I'm tired of talking about old flames. I wanna get another drink!"

With a lot of giggling and cheering the group got up and made their way toward the bar. On their way there, they were sidetracked by a group of men who obviously invited them to dance. Abandoning their plan to get more drinks, Sarah and her friends headed onto the crowded dance floor and began dancing.

Sly glanced again at Jareth and groaned. Kingy was staring after Sarah, his eyes narrowed. There was a look on his face that the little goblin couldn't quite place. It wasn't really anger, but it wasn't exactly sadness either.

"Uh oh." Scrabble nudged him and pointed.

He followed her finger to see Sarah, her arms around the neck of a tall man with ash colored hair. As they danced, their bodies got closer. The man slid an arm around her waist and pulled Sarah toward him. His hand strayed dangerously low on the back of her tight, black pants and her glittery top sparkled under the flashing lights of the club.

Sarah threw her head back and laughed at something the man said to her and then she nodded, flipping her hair back over her shoulder as she did so. Moments later he spun her around and pulled her back against him, urging her to dance. The man had his hands firmly wrapped around her hips as he danced, grinding against her as they moved in time to the pumping beat of the music. She smiled back over her shoulder at him and returned the favor, gyrating against him, her hands in the air and her body moving sinuously in time to the pulsing beat.

Sly squeaked in dismay as he saw Jareth rise from his seat and stalk toward the dance floor. The little goblin panicked and darted out from under the booth in full view of anyone who cared to look down and see him. It was luckily too dark and too crowded for anyone to notice him.

"No Kingy! Don't!" he cried just as Sarah looked in Jareth's direction. Her face briefly registered shock and surprise. Then she was hidden from view by a large group of people that danced past, coming between Kingy and Lady Sarah.

Sly made it to Jareth just in time to hear his angry snarl. For a moment, Sly thought that the king would go tearing through the humans to get to the Lady, but then his shoulders slumped and he turned away. Without another word, the Goblin King disappeared in a shower of glitter.

A second later the group passed, moving out onto the dance floor and giving Sly, who had just enough time to duck behind a bar stool, an unobstructed view of Sarah's face. She had gone pale but there were two spots of color on her cheeks. She had stopped dancing and was standing stock still in the middle of the dance floor. Her dance partner asked her a question and tried to get her to continue dancing with him, sliding a hand up and down the Lady Sarah's arm seductively as he spoke in her ear.

Sly watched her narrowly, wondering is she would resume her quest to get laid. Now that he had seen the behavior of the humans in the club, he had a much better idea of what that phrase meant. To his immense relief, Sarah shook her head, turning the man down with a smile and shrug.

He glowered at the thought, but Lady Sarah was already making her way off the dance floor and heading for the room where she and the others had left their things. For several tense moments the man she had been dancing with stared after her and Sly wondered what he would be able to do if the human decided to follow her. He breathed a sigh of relief when the man merely sneered and turned away to look for another girl to dance with.

Sly grabbed Scrabble by the arm, pulling her away from a heavily involved couple that she was watching with rapt attention. Ignoring the female goblin's yelp of protest, he yanked her along behind him, following Lady Sarah as she gathered her things and left the noisy club. Sarah looked shaken and nervous and just ever so slightly… guilty.

Some time later found all the Goblins sitting soberly around the coffee table in the living room. Sarah had requested she not be disturbed upon their return to the apartment. Even ever-loyal Pumpkin was barred from entry into her bedroom. Jareth's goblins were equally helpless, having searched high and low for the King only to hear their echoing voices calling back to them in eerily empty stone halls.

Slug let out a small sniff of despair. That sound seemed to be drawn from the spirit of every goblin in the entire room. Defeat permeated the air, and the hearts of all the goblins were heavy with yet another failure. Sly was pacing back and forth on top of the table, thinking as hard as he possibly could. Chatter and Scrabble were holding hands under it to comfort each other. Pumpkin was rocking back and forth, snuggling a throw blanket while Tripp was compulsively biting his nails.

"What if it's a doomed cause?" murmured Scrabble.

All heads turned sharply in reproach to her for making such a suggestion.

Unsurprisingly, Chatter piped up to defend her. "It's a fair question, lads," he asserted, looking at each of them in turn. "After all we've been working for weeks to try to get them to even notice each other. And after we try it's always a completely messy disaster. I don't want to keep breaking their hearts by poking at old wounds or opening new ones no I certainly don't. Mercy me and may we all be bogged I don't want to do that. Both Kingy and Lady are much beloved of everyone including all of us here and I'm sure none of us want to cause more harm if it can at all be helped I am sure of that Sly, sir."

He started to wring his hands nervously, the steam of righteously defending his lady love beginning to run cold with fear. But he continued nevertheless.

"Don't be mistaking me now, I want Kingy and Lady to be together and happy as much as anyone here. I think she'd be a splendid Queenie and rightly so as the Champion. It's just that we be making such a blunder of the whole thing. We've brought Kingy to tears and stoled from him, we made Lady head hurt and now she shut herself away. Even though Kingy been topside twice now we still getting nowhere. Not even to mention getting the Lady to come back Underground. I mean…"

"What did you say?" asked Sly suddenly.

Chatter took a big breath, "I says, it's a fair question lads. After all we've been working for weeks…"

"No. Stop. Please, not the whole thing. Just that last bit." Sly asserted.

Chatter thought for a moment, "I says, we ain't no closer to getting the Lady to come back Underground."

Sly snapped his fingers, and clicked his heels, utterly inspired.

"That's IT! We've been going the wrong direction! Alright everyone, new plan."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chatter peered at the house in the distance. It was a small, unassuming residence, nestled in the curve of a pond a short distance away from the gates of the Labyrinth. The home and the area around it was fairly quiet, the only sound the soft buzz made by the wings of the ever-present pixies that the resident dwarf dealt with on a daily basis. Squinting, Chatter moved closer, determined to complete Sly's instructions before the others arrived. Spotting the dwarf in the kitchen, stirring a pot, he smirked and moved closer.

Knocking on the door, he waited for Hoggle to answer, beaming up at the dwarf as the door swung open, revealing the annoyed aged face all the goblins were familiar with from Jareth's rants about how he had helped Sarah defeat the Labyrinth and thus him.

"Whadya want?" Hoggle scowled, wiping his hands on a towel looped into his belt.

"Kingy said the pixies got over the wall yesterday and they're attacking the worms," Chatter launched into the speech Sly had coached him on, making sure to speed up his words so that the dwarf simply stared in blank confusion. "And you know how the worms like to talk and well, the pixies are tearin' up everything and they're verrry concerned for their homes and the King is super annoyed at having to listen to them for hours and hours and …"

"Stop! Gods, just...stop." Hoggle threw up his hands, ending Chatter's tirade. Chatter blinked up at him, the epitome of innocence. "I'm going, sheesh. Just...stop talkin'."

"Kay!" Chatter beamed, flashing Hoggle a toothy grin. The dwarf rolled his eyes and grabbed his canister of pixie spray. Donning his skullcap, the old dwarf shuffled past him, muttering a curse while Chatter seemingly began skipping back towards the Labyrinth. Once Hoggle was out of sight, the mischievous little goblin scrambled back into the dwarf's home, tapped a mirror, and gave the face that shimmered into view a thumbs up.

"Operation Party Hardy is a go!" He grinned, pleased when Sly smiled back. He didn't know why they'd come up with that name, but a plan was a plan and he hoped this time it stuck. Getting the Lady and Kingy together was becoming a lot of work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, ya see, Lady Sarah, ya gotsta go!" Pumpkin cried, staring up at Sarah with big wide eyes.

Sarah scowled, glancing down at Pumpkin dubiously as she applied more of her face paints to her skin. When Sarah frowned, Pumpkin jumped up, hugging her leg as she stared up at her again, her lower lip trembling. "Pretty please, Lady Sarah?"

Pumpkin wanted her King and the Lady to be together. She knew… she just KNEW how much they really liked each other, even if they didn't act like it. When Scrabble and Slug moved forward, echoing her expression, Sarah finally groaned and rolled her eyes.

"You guys, I love Hoggle as much as any of you…" she started. Slug and Scrabble gave each other a brief side-eye as if to say you might be the only one, actually, before Sarah continued, "...but I can't risk him being there. You guys go ahead and have fun without me. Tell Hoggle I said hi."

Pumpkin released Sarah's leg and plumped down heavily on the floor at her feet. "But-"

"But Lady, he won't be there!" Scrabble stated hastily, cutting off Pumpkin's incipient tears and stepping forward with Slug, who nodded in agreement.

The ever hungry goblin pulled out a bag of cheetos from seemingly nowhere and wrestled it open, plunging his hand inside and grabbing a handful of the messy, orange snacks and stuffing them into his mouth. Both his hand and his mouth ended up covered in orange dust, which he promptly smeared down the front of his clothing before sticking his hand back in the bag for more. Sarah narrowed her eyes, recognizing the bag, and Slug blinked, pausing as he brought another handful to his lips. He then quietly backtracked, dropping the handful back into the bag and hiding it behind his back, trying to look as innocent as possible despite the orange mess he'd made of himself.

Pumpkin grinned at his antics and picked herself up off the floor, climbing up to sit next to Sarah, who had dropped onto the bed in exasperation. She patted her mistress' leg and cuddled into her side, trying to improve her mood. They needed her in a good mood so she would agree to their plan. When Slug started to inch the bag out from behind his back, Pumpkin glared at him and shook her head. With a guilty look, he began sidling toward the bedroom door.

Scrabble took another step forward, drawing Sarah's attention away from Slug and his illicit snacks. "Kingy's got plans tomorrow. You know...staring at the Kingdom." She didn't miss a beat, despite Sarah's odd look. "Doing that...staring thing people do when they...stare. Ya know, figuring out what parts need repair and stuff. Please come, Hoggle misses you. He doesn't have many friends, not since…"

She trailed off as Sarah sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes going wide. Scrabble didn't know what that meant but she seized the opportunity, looking down sadly and scuffing her foot on the floor. "...and he's super sad all the time and needs an amigo like you there to make it super special."

Pumpkin blinked, glancing at Slug who peered curiously around the door frame, still sneaking cheetos into his mouth. At least he'd had the sense to get the snacks out of the room. She caught his attention and silently mouthed, "What's an amigo?" He simply shrugged and she looked back to see Sarah struggling as Scrabble continued to plead.

With a faint sigh, Sarah finally nodded, holding up a hand to silence Scrabble. The goblin beamed, glancing over at Pumpkin and Slug with a small smile. Pumpkin's pulse immediately kicked into overdrive and she stood hugging Sarah exuberantly before jumping down from the bed and running into the living room. Checking behind her to make sure Sarah had not followed, she knocked on the mirror and waited for her brother to appear. Once she saw his face, she grinned. "She agreed."

Sly looked relieved and nodded. "See you in a few hours, Pumpkin."

"Okey dokey," she replied, before scurrying back to the bedroom where Scrabble and Slug were dancing together, making Sarah laugh. She watched, crossing her fingers that this time their plot stuck and all would be well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several hours later, Sly turned away from the mirror, giving Tripp a thumbs up. The King had finally returned and it was time for the clumsy little goblin to put on a show, getting the King's attention away from the Labyrinth. Hopefully their diversionary tactics would work to keep the King from sensing Sarah's return before they could unveil their surprise.

Hearing the clatter and crash, along with the squawk of several chickens and Jareth's roar of outrage, Sly smiled and hurried through the mirror. Their plan was in motion and there was much still to do. It's showtime, he thought to himself as he entered Hoggles hut. He just hoped Tripp was able to get away as planned.

Just as the sun started to set, Sly stood with his hands on his hips and surveyed the interior of the house near the Labyrinth's gates. Everything was in place. Chatter had done a fine job of setting up streamers, garlands and other decorative touches around the house. When Sly found him, he was busy studying his research material, glancing up and frowning at Sly. "You sure this is right? This…" He looked at the magazine cover, "...Secret Ways to Seduce Your Man says we need lingerie. What's lingerie?"

Sly shrugged, frowning. He'd never heard that word before. "A cake, I guess?"

Chatter seemed to think, then smiled, tapping on the mirror. Tripp appeared, an expectant grin on his face. As Chatter described what he needed, Tripp looked sage and thoughtful, muttering to Scrabble what they needed in vivid, descriptive detail. Chatter smiled and nodded in approval at Tripp's description before tapping the mirror and evering the connection.

"Tripp has it covered." Chatter said confidently.

"Is he sure Slug can handle keeping ahead of Kingy?" Sly asked.

On the other side of the mirror, Tripp nodded. "He's fine. I made a huge mess, got Kingy hopping mad and then ran. Slug knows to keep making disasters and stay ahead of the King."

In the background Scrabble appeared, a mixing bowl held against her hip and a wooden spoon in her hand. "Tripp! The oven's hot!"

Sly sighed and shook his head. He wished he could have set Slug to the task of cooking with Scrabble, but he had feared that there wouldn't have been any food for the party if he'd done that. Sly fervently hoped that Slug's size wouldn't hinder him as he led Jareth on a merry chase through the realm. He was one of the best brawlers in the horde, if you could get him to stop eating long enough, but Sly wasn't sure Slug was much of a runner. He was far better as protection, which was why Sly had sent him above with his sister. He hadn't counted on Slug becoming even more obsessed with food than he had been before. And simply, he couldn't trust him to keep his fingers out of their lingerie.

He shrugged, there wasn't anything he could do about it, so there was no use worrying. He figured that if Slug ever applied himself, he might actually make as good a chef as Tripp one day- maybe even better. It would be nice to see Slug do something other than eat and bully the smaller goblins.

Glancing outside, Sly noted the time and did one more check to make sure that everything would be ready. When he was sure that everything was perfect he sat down. There was nothing left to do now but wait for Sarah to arrive and trust that Slug was keeping Jareth occupied. Sly bounced his leg nervously, knowing that Sarah could arrive at any moment. He hoped that Slug was keeping an eye on the time as he led Jareth on a merry chase that should culminate in his arrival here at Hoggle's house just as Lady Sarah stepped through the portal. He knew once they saw each other and stared into each others eyes, they would instantly embrace and do that odd mashing their lips together thing. That show about human behavior that he and Pumpkin had watched the other afternoon told him as much. As research went, it had been very informative. Although it had confused them in places, Days of Our Lives seemed a very good documentary to go by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Fates**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pumpkin stared up at Sarah, her eyes wide. "Lady...you look beautiful!"

Sarah blushed and rolled her eyes but Pumpkin kept staring in awe at the way her Lady looked. Sarah was dressed in a cream summer dress and small nude pumps. She looked fit to be a Queen - her Queen if all went well today. She squirmed excitedly as she thought of the events to come. She and Sly had been lucky to find that show the other afternoon. If what they had seen was correct, than Lady and Kingy should be happily engrossed in one another by the end of the day.

Jumping up and down, Pumpkin raised her arms up to Sarah pleadingly, impatient for the Lady to pick her up and slip through the mirror portal. Scrabble and Slug had already gone ahead of them, eager to put the finishing touches on their 'mood setting' - whatever that meant. She hoped what she had convinced Sarah to wear would appeal to the King properly.

Sarah chuckled at her antics.

"All right, let's get this show on the road," Sarah said, eyeing the mirror. She leaned down and scooped Pumpkin up in her arms as she walked toward the portal. Sarah took a deep breath and then ducked her head and stepped through the mirror. Pumpkin couldn't help grinning in excitement as Sarah carried her Underground

.


End file.
